Carousel of Disaster
by Paper Lanterns And Yogurt
Summary: Collection of various AU's or One-Shots involving mainly Neji and Tenten. "Auburn. Giddy. Natural. Sleek. Thorn. Laughingstock. Dun. Revealing. Selflessness. These are the words that babble to them."
1. Handheld Panda

Neji Hyuuga was somewhat excited for this school year, for he had his best friend Rock Lee and his crush Sakura Haruno in his class.

People often thought that he didn't have any friends, or if he did he only had them to beat on and steal money from. He hated those assumptions, but he couldn't really do anything about them besides brush them off. It wasn't his fault that his entire family had those menacing white eyes - sans his gentle cousin Hinata of course - or that his father and uncle were known worldwide about their intimidating aura he just happened to possess as well.

One day he remembered smiling at Lee's joke about a giraffe and some honey on the way home from school in freshman year. They had been walking past the shops because it was the quickest route to their respective homes, so lots of people were walking around. When he grinned, everyone turned to him and stared before mothers quickly directed their children away and men searched him like a criminal.

Despite Lee's denial, even he looked as if his best friend was some freak at that moment. And Neji never tried to smile or laugh again.

But this year was a new year! Maybe he can ask Sakura to go out with him! She is certainly everything in a woman that he would want! She was so flamboyant and peppy, much different than what Hyuuga women such as Hinata displayed.

Neji was so enamored by Sakura's jovial attitude that he didn't know that something had walked into him when he opened the classroom door. Not until...

_BAM!_

The young adolescent male found his rear end meeting the harsh linoleum floor in an ungraceful collision, feeling as if his entire jaw had lost feeling. Dazed, he looked for the source of the attack with an animalistic frenzy before he rested his cold white eyes on eyes that held more fury and ferocity than he had ever witnessed. And the worst part was that he didn't even have to look up to see them.

Neji wanted to fall unconscious at that moment, for right in front of him and standing in the doorway, was the school's renowned Handheld Panda: Tenten. Panda because of the brown panda-ear resembling buns she always wore, and Handheld because of her ridiculously small stature. Because of how short her height and even shorter temper, Tenten was renowned at the most dangerous girl on school.

And right now she had demonstrated this by practically one-hit KOing him with by striking him in the chin. She looked at him with annoyance; a small scene of kids around them watching in awe, mirth, and fear. And when she spoke, she sounded so much like a cute little panda bear that it _almost_ negated the venom in her words, "You idiot, watch where you're going."

She quickly departed, stepping over his sprawled out figure as if he was just gum on the street she wanted to avoid. Neji had never felt more mortified in his life as he was too numb to haul himself up with the last of his dignity. Neji, the slightly creepy-looking student who had the best grades in his class, was just called an idiot by a girl he could have mistaken for a China doll. Students whispered around him, some about how scary Tenten is, and some about how much of a pansy he currently was. Lee had walked out of the classroom to see what was the commotion, and Neji had to snap it out of it so that he can hide his face from all of the jeering accusations.

"Tenten sure is fiery," Lee tried to amend as the two males quickly got to their seats. "Hopefully she will not try to hurt you again, my dear friend, for it is such an unyouthful thing to do. But, since she'll be in the same classes as us, maybe you should avoid her for a bit. To let her youthful self cool down."

Neji nearly choked on his spit. Tenten was going to be in most of their classes? He groaned and not even Sakura's happy bantering with Lee was enough to get him out of his depression.

* * *

The day was over, and Neji cheered up a bit more. Tenten only gave him a scornful look when she entered, but then again she did that to everyone. He was just a blink in her devilishly judging brown eyes, and was thus saved from any sort of unfortunate circumstances with her. If he kept out of her way, the event of getting his ass handed to him by a girl nearly half his height would fade away by the second semester.

He had chatted with Lee, surreptitiously flushed when Sakura talked to him, and generally enjoyed the day as best as a white-eyed bastard like himself could.

It all went to shit when he got home though, for in his backpack he found a love letter.

And it was from Tenten.

The nerves in his eyes seemed to light on fire and combust themselves because it took him a long time to even understand what he was looking at. It was a tiny pink envelope, almost rose in color, with a little bow on the front. And written in even smaller curly cursive were the words '_Tenten_' written on the front in jade gel pen ink.

Neji didn't understand anything at that moment as he sat on his bed and stared at the love letter. For all three years of high school, he and Tenten had never exchanged hellos. They weren't in all of each other's classes until now by some stroke of sadistic happenstance, and she did just use violence upon him that day. They weren't in kindergarden anymore, and she wasn't a boy who smacked girls to show their puppy-love the best they could. It was just... bizarre.

What was even more terrifying was to try and tell her that he wasn't interested. If she was willing to beat him up when he was her crush, he couldn't imagine what she would do to him when he was the object that did not return her affections.

Feeling like his world was caught between a rock and the Handheld Panda, Neji swore softly and laid back on his bed to hold the stupid envelope up in the air. He ended up holding it up in front of the ceiling lights as well, and now he could see straight through it. Neji blinked. Interesting, he thought as all of the day's tension once again faded from him.

Before he can even register his sudden calming, something sounded like a window being roughly shoved open and loud banging from the living droom. In his house.

Now his body was rigid for a different reason because Neji lived on the second story of the large apartment complex his uncle owned, the entire floor was for himself. Even if he did leave a window open, who in the right mind would try to climb that distance just to rob him? He wasn't exactly skilled in the art of self-defense, but he wasn't a weakling either, and thus cautiously got up while he listened to the commotion. To his relief, he had left his trusty broom in his room as well, and grabbed it as he pressed his ear to the door.

"Where is it?" something murmured to themself, followed by something falling. "Ow!"

At least his robber sounded incompetent. Unconsciously Neji shoved the love note in his pants pocket as he prepared to surprise-attack the intruder. He didn't have the time though when his door was yanked open and he nearly tripped over his two feet.

It was dark in the living room due to it being late afternoon, the only light coming from his bedroom, so he didn't have the clearest idea who the person was except that they had really small feet and wore really pink socks.

"Hiyaaah!" something roared, and Neji rolled to avoid the roaring crack of something smashing wildly against the spot his head once occupied. He quickly scurried to his feet, trying to get to where the light switches were. "Oh no you don't!" Something whacked him on the back, and he cringed. Something about that voice sounded... squeaky and... familiar?

He tripped again when he felt something like a long stick ram itself between his shoulder blades, and only by chance did his hands land on lights. He turned around just in time to dodge what looked to be a bo staff getting jabbed into the wall beside him; broom still clutched firmly in his grip. And in front of him stood the Handheld Panda herself.

Now usually she scared the living daylights out of him, but not now. Not when her long brown hair was untied and flowing around her head in long wavy curls. Not when she was wearing what looked to be a light pale pink frilly nightgown with a lot of ribbons and lace and sleeves that fell over her small little hands. _Especially_ not when she looked like a ruffled parakeet and was adamantly glaring up at him with more of a whiny pouty face than the roaring dragon she had been before.

Right now she looked like a precious China doll.

"What...," Neji began, too confused for words. "What are you doing in my house?"

And then Tenten began to tremble and made an even funnier pouty face, looking so embarrassed and like she was going to cry as she pulled back her bo staff from the wall and shouted, "Give it back!"

This time, Neji was able to block her strike with the broom, surprised at how much force she had put behind it. Then it became a chase of Neji running around his living quarters blocking with a broom as an angry and disheveled Handheld Panda was out for his blood shouting at him to 'give it back!'.

He is sent tumbling when Tenten launches herself at his back, the force causing him to nearly hit his head when he falls to the hardwood floor. Unfortunately - fortunately? - Tenten ends up hitting the side of her head against his coffee table, her small little body pinning him to the ground like a tiger does its prey.

"Give it back," she growled after a terse moment, dropping the staff to begin grabbing at his hair and _pulling_. "Give it back!"

If Neji hadn't had a higher pain tolerance, and if it weren't for fear of waking his neighbors, he would had squealed like a rented mule at the pain bursting from his scalp. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Tenten! Ow! Let me go!"

"Of course you do!" she retorted, still clutching angrily to his long hair. "You know damn well, so give it back! It wasn't for you!"

In his moments of excruciating pain, something clicked and Neji nearly whimpered as he said, "The love letter?" He then remembered when he held it to the light. "There was nothing in it!" Tenten ceased immediately, and Neji chanced a look at her face. She was mortified as she slowly released him.

"I-I-I-I," she stuttered, possibly worse than his cousin. "I fo-forgot th-t-the l-letter?"

Trying to defend himself further, Neji reached into his pocket and held up the envelope to her face. "There's nothing inside," he clarified, hoping to calm the girl and get her out of his house before she ends up breaking something other than his spine. He'd call the police, but he feared that she'll hunt him down and slash his throat at night. Tenten snatched the envelope, ripping it open and began shaking when she saw that what he said was true. "Can... you get off me, please?"

She quietly moved off him, allowed for Neji to get up and awkwardly watch as she tearfully looked at the envelope. "If it helps...," he ventured tenaciously, "I don't have a crush on you."

Her eyes quickly sparked back with fire, her entire demeanor igniting into the fearsome Panda everyone knew her for. Neji felt like wetting his pants when he saw her reaching out for her bo staff. "Good," she whispered darkly, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you live." She swung at him, and on pure instinct Neji leapt back and was able to dodge.

Their wild game proceeded to continued, only with a renewed need to kill and an even bigger need to survive.

"A good whack to the head and you'll forget all about it!" Tenten assured him wickedly, punctuating her sentence with sharp jabs and swipes. "You'll never think about this incident ever again!"

"Tenten!" Neji shouted, hoping to get past her fury and to a more reasonable situation, "I won't breathe a word to this to anyone! I promise! Put the bloody staff down!"

"You're dead, Hyuuga!" _SMACK!_ Neji's foot barely got out of the way. "You're dead because you weren't supposed to get that letter!" _SMACK! SMACK!_ "You're dead because it was for Lee, you stupid idiot!"

At that, Neji was too shocked and the staff indeed hit him on the head that time. Sadly he didn't pass out and get sudden amnesia like Tenten had hoped for. He merely yelped like a rented mule and curled into a ball clutching at his cranium. He grappled for another way to stun her violent outrage, anything to keep her from bringing that dreaded staff down for a second time. "Lee?" he gasped, wondering if he heard right. Bruises were forming everywhere, and he will be damned if he doesn't make her feel bad emotionally as he does physically. "You like _Rock Lee_?"

The goofy student council guy who loves martial arts and has that stupid bowlcut and those giant frog eyes? It would have made Neji crack up if his sides weren't aching and his head wasn't swimming.

Tenten's anger puffed up before it all popped, like a leaking hot air balloon. She dropped her weapon, hopefully for the last time, and sunk to her knees in front of him. Once again she was on the verge of tears, her cheeks red hot with humiliation. Good gracious this woman was bipolar.

"I like Lee," she whispered, as if she was not just coming to terms with it. She brought her tiny hands up in front of her, and Neji slowly tried to stand up and reach for the phone. Within a flash she had those same tiny hands around his throat, squeezing tightly until he was choking beneath her. "And I know something about you too, Hyuuga! You like Sakura!" If air had been in his lungs, it would have fled at her words. Was he really that transparent? Finding out that she was now in control, Tenten smirked. "You've liked her since the second year, and she's been my best friend since the first. I can easily tell her your not-so-secret affinity for her."

Manly pride wounded, Neji gasped out, "I'm Lee's best friend, I can tell him your secrets too." Oh hell she was crushing his windpipe now. He had to think up of something before she really did kill him. "Tenten, what if I made you an offer?" Making diplomatic decisions was in his blood, and it was hopefully the thing that would save him.

"An offer?" she didn't sound convinced.

To avoid his demise at the hands of what could be the equivalent of King Kong in the body of a China Doll, Neji put his own over hers and looked her straight in the eye. "You're Sakura's friend, and I'm Lee's friend. You like Lee, I like Sakura. We - you - shouldn't be trying to kill one another, but instead we can help each other." The grip slackened, but he couldn't relax now. She was still a ferocious dragon and still a threat. "I _promise_ to get you with Lee. I know him, so I can assure you the best chances. And in turn, I pray that you will help me in doing the same for me." And maybe not kill him.

Tenten began considering this, all of the tiredness she was feeling showing itself now in her mussed hair and dress and sleepy eyes. After a long pause, she dropped her hands and nodded. Feeling that she was finally placated, Neji got up and frowned when he felt marks already forming. Tenten got up as well, but Neji barely realized this because she came up only to the top of his ribcage.

"Sorry for attacking you," she said softly, and quickly began to make her exit - much to Neji's relief. He watched curiously as she went to the second bedroom, the one he didn't even use, and began to climb out the window. Only out of curiosity did Neji follow her, to try and found out where she had come from in the first place.

Like a mouse, the brunette slipped out with ease, bo staff held firmly in her tiny little paw.

And then Neji realized that she lived in the dingy little house next to his.

All of the components for murder were there; because his window was right next to the one of her bedroom, so she could slip right in. Neji sat next to Lee in class, and they had very similar backpacks, so she could have easily mistaken them. The location of where he lived could be accessed off of the school's public computers, so she could have easily tracked him down. And Tenten's insane, so she would be very willing to kill him.

Neji made a mental note to put a lock on that window, less his cousin be picking out gravestones early.

With ease Tenten descended into her bedroom, turning to stick her head out one last time, eyes alight with passion and resigned consent. "One wrong move from you, Hyuuga, and Sakura will never speak to you again." To punctuate herself, she slammed her window shut and turned out the light a second later.

_Oh_.

That totally made Neji feel better.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I admit it, I love AU's. To satisfy my craving, I'm going to use Neji and Tenten in them, and while their personalities might change or the situations might be off, this is very experimental at trying to put two characters of one show into another. I thought Toradora would be a good stepping-stone, considering how drastic I had to change them to adhere to the main storyline.**

**Each chapter will most likely be a one-shot, and at the end I'll add the show or piece of literature I put them in. If you have a particular AU for them, just ask and I will certainly look into it.**

**As for now, enjoy the 3,181 words of Neji getting the shit beat out of him by a really small Tenten.**


	2. The Meaning of Power

Team Gai, as they are called, were said to be unbeatable.

They all had grown up in the small village of Konoha, run by the prestigious Gym Leader Sarutobi. In the Pokemon Academy, they got their team name from their teacher, Might Gai, who encouraged their individual growth whilst training them to work as a team.

And as the first children to reach ten that year, all three of them received their Pokemon at the same time.

Neji, already proven that he was a proficient Pokemon prodigy, was given the patient, well-mannered Bulbasaur. Though he never gave it a nickname, Bulbasaur taught him that he had to go slower to fully grow, just like the bud on its back. Bulbasaur also showed him that when he was beaten down, if he got back up then his efforts aren't in vain.

Lee got the exuberant Squirtle, nicknamed Gai the moment he got him, and was shown that there is more to offer than brute strength. It was Squirtle's defense and ability to stop or speed up when he needed to that helped Lee channel his determination and helped him reach his goals, even when Lee was doomed to be a horrible trainer by his classmates.

Tenten, the magnet to her two friend's opposites, was given the middle Pokeball containing Charmander, who was quickly nicknamed Kunai. She had lived her life being average, but Charmander sought for the skies and together they began to soar. Charmander's flaming passion drove Tenten to reacher higher than any of them could have imagined.

For the first three gyms, Neji caught the most Pokemon, and let the most go. He wasn't interested in 'weaklings', and even gave Tenten the Caterpie he had accidentally caught because Lee thought it was shiny. Often he wouldn't let his Pokemon rest until they were forced to drag themselves to a nearby Pokemon center. For most of the journey, Neji was the one pulling them forward even when they weren't ready, and his impatience showed when Bulbasaur couldn't evolve and was unable to defeat Blaine's Magmar.

Lee was a failure from the start, much to Neji's annoyance. He had a track record of never being able to beat his gyms on the first try, even when he had the advantage over Brock's Onix. He was always losing his items and having to go look for them, or wild Pokemon stole them from his in plain sight when he was distracted. Squirtle and Tenten often helped him, but Neji would go off and train until late into the night. Despite this, Lee was able to beat Erika through Sabrina when Squirtle was the first to evolve. A testament to their teamwork and hardships.

For Tenten, she would have to be the one to pull Neji back while pushing Lee forward. The mediator between them, she didn't suffer as many losses as Lee and didn't win as much as Neji. Charmander evolved normally, winning against those he had a type advantage over and struggling when he did not. Her growth was stunted because she couldn't give to herself, instead focusing on the genius and the failure. Her Caterpie grew into a beautiful Butterfree. She was the first to beat the eighth gym leader.

Team Gai was still a team though. Neji could absorb all of the hits Lee threw at him with ease, but he was easily scorched by Tenten, and in turn Lee was able to drown out her fire. They were disastrous to each other because of it. Neji went too fast, Lee went too slow, and no one knew Tenten.

It wasn't until Butterfree died that they finally pulled themselves together.

They were never told that a Pokemon could die. People had the idea that Pokemon could live forever, but that was certainly not the case when they was attacked by a rampaging Nidoking. They fought, all of them, but none of them could coordinate their attacks like Professor Gai had taught them, and Butterfree paid the price. The Butterfree Lee had found, the Butterfree Neji had accidentally caught, and the Butterfree that was now Tenten's that was now getting crunched in half and screaming in pain as the Nidoking snapped its jaws down on its fragile wings.

When it was all over, they didn't have the body to give it a funeral in Lavender Town. Tenten stayed behind, believing that Neji never needed her and that Lee depended on her too much so he had to grow up. But inside they knew that they had hurt her and that she couldn't stand them anymore.

And because of that, Neji went too fast and Lee went too slow.

All three drove themselves to the brink of despair. Neji trained his Pokemon and was stuck in the hospital when he got hypothermia in the mountains. Bulbasaur had to drag his unconscious body back even when the little grass-type was already so tired. And when his other Pokemon, mostly flying-types because he loved to watch them soar, had caged themselves up inside his Pokeballs, Bulbasaur stuck by his side when he finally woke up.

Lee nearly drowned when he and Wartortle weren't fast enough to escape a sudden whirlpool near Seafoam Islands. It was Wartortle's innate quickness in the water that barely saved them, and still Lee had to go into extensive care because he stopped breathing - and oh god he died for a few seconds - but Wartortle kept persistently waiting outside and hoping against hope even when his trainer couldn't.

And Tenten just stopped completely because she wasn't being pulled along and she wasn't being held back. She wasn't hurt physically like the others, but Butterfree was gone and he wasn't coming back, and Charmander was Charmeleon and he wanted to fly like Butterfree but Tenten stopped training... But he wouldn't give up and he knows loss is painful but Tenten was always the one to hold them all together and they really do love her.

"Char! Char!" Kunai told her one day, when she was walking around Lavender town doing nothing again. She felt like she couldn't do anything anymore, stuck on the earth and stuck going nowhere. Tenten stopped looking to the sky after that day, it became unbearable. Tenten turned to her loyal Kunai then, the one who was earthbound but kept looking at the sky; the one who hated being in his Pokeball and was stubborn about it because he is stubborn with a lot of things. In his claws he held Butterfree's shattered Pokeball. The one Neji used to catch him with.

"Why are you showing me this?" she sobbed, the usual strong girl she once was seemingly a figment of the pas. But Kunai is stubborn with a lot of things so he pushed the Pokeball into her unwilling face and showed her the message on the back. _To Tenten, From Neji, Love Lee_. It was how the green oddball had called the 'present'. She didn't know the meaning back then because Neji simply pitied her for not yet catching her first Pokemon and thought it was 'adequate' to just give her one. She had never told him that she couldn't catch a Pokemon because he never let them settle down long enough.

_To Tenten_, because it was the only thing Neji ever gave her. _From Neji_, because it was the only thing he ever gave without something in return. _Love Lee_, because he had loved them at that time and had not loved them as much as he did then. When they were a team.

Tenten clasped Kunai's claws between her hands, crying for a whole new reason. She had foolishly left her friends behind, when she should have helped them go forward. With determination she pulled Kunai along to begin training, something she hadn't done in a long, long time.

Neji may go too fast and Lee went too slow, but Tenten was better than both of them because she can go just right. She began training like Neji, but spent her time with her Pokemon like Lee, and within a week Charmeleon evolved into Charizard and she finally took to the skies like Butterfree used to do.

* * *

_Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call! Phone call! Ring ring ring!_

Neji was irritated when he got the call so early in the morning, still in bed with Bulbasaur by his side. The little thing rarely disobeyed him, but now it was intent on not getting into its Pokeball anymore. He didn't want it to end up like Tenten's rebellious Kunai. He wasn't sure he had the patience to handle it like she could. Ah, speak of the devil.

"Hey, Neji!" He was surprised when she sounded so happy. It had been almost a month since he last heard her voice, and he couldn't bring himself to call because he didn't want to hear her to broken up inside. Sometimes he wished he had just released Buttefree, because then when it got eaten none of them would have thought much of it. But Tenten was just too elated when he offered that he simply handed it over and tried to think nothing of it._  
_

Even when he had nearly all flying-types, and his Pidgeotto usually knocked Butterfree to the ground, the wide-eyed insect got right back up and flew higher than anything he had ever seen before. It hurt, to watch fate take something meant to be free away.

"Bulba!" Bulbasaur spoke up, smiling at the voice he adored. Often when he was too worn to battle, Neji let him rest out of the way and Tenten would be the one giving him the super potions. "Bulbasaur!"

"Tenten?" Neji questioned tentatively. "How... how have you been?" _I miss you_.

A giggle that warmed his heart. "Much better. But I should ask you the same thing! What happened to _you_?"

Neji frowned. He didn't tell her about his accident. "A little too much training, I wasn't paying attention." _I didn't know how to stop without you_.

He wouldn't tell her outright until they were much older, but his entire team got wiped out by some prick named Kidoumaru, who left most of his Pokemon poisoned and he didn't have enough antidotes because he never thought that he'd need them but he was wrong.

"Neji Hyuuga, not paying attention? Never." She was joking, but the concern was there. Bulbasaur had hopped up from the floor where he usually lay onto the bed Nei was in, looking outside the window into the clear sky. "Gosh, you need to wash your hair."

His eyes jerked about, as if wondering how she knew. "Who told you I haven't washed my hair?" Hygiene was a big thing to him, often due to travelling about and sleeping under the stars. He had just neglected it like he had neglected his Pokemon and himself.

Something tapped on the window, and Bulbasaur was smiling even brighter than before. "Take a look outside, Neji." And she hung up.

Timidly Neji turned his head. He had always known that Tenten was strong, and that she was independent, but never before has she looked more fearsome riding on her Charizard just outside his temporary inn room. Numb limbs be damned, Neji nearly flung himself out of his bed to open the lock and stick his head outside. Kunai blew some hot breath in his face, but he couldn't stop the look of awe on his usually impenetrable face.

"Tenten!" he gasped and she giggled and he never wanted her to leave ever again. "You can fly!" And Bulbasaur, the patient, well-mannered grass-type ran up his back and jumped off his shoulder to grab onto his fiery friend's face and crawled up his neck into Tenten's arms. And she had never laughed as hard as she did now.

"Let's go Neji" she said with a gleam in her eyes. "We gotta go back and get Lee."

And without a care, Neji too threw himself out the window and onto the enormous flying-type.

To his amazement, newly-evolved Kunai flew with such speed and grace that he was dizzy with vertigo and he had never felt so free in his life.

* * *

"Wartortle!"

Lee grinned and gave his Pokemon a hearty thumbs-up, but recently it had been losing its luster. It had begun getting harder and harder to get up and move around, as if his body was lead. Blaine was still expecting him for another Pokemon battle.

Sadly, as Lee watched from the shore as Gai played in the surf, he could already think about what Neji would say. "You had the type-advantage, Lee. You should have won. You're weak, you spend too much time goofing off rather than training or battling. Even I beat Blaine, and Bulbasaur is a grass-type."

"Lee!"

Aha, he was going crazy. He thought he had heard Neji's voice just now.

"Leeeee!" Maybe Tenten's too, but she couldn't take care of him like she use to. He was too slow for her, she just got sick of him like Neji did.

Gai had begun swimming really fast then, trying to make a little whirlpool in the water for some reason. Lee didn't touch the water since he nearly drowned, but he enjoyed watching from a distance.

"Lee, snap out of it!"

No, Lee thought to himself as he pulled his knees up to his chest. He didn't want to die, not in such a gruesome fashion as Tenten's Butterfree had endured. Five excruciating bites at the wrong place and the wrong time. One, and its wing was shredded. Two, and its body was crushed. Three, and bug guts flew everywhere. Four, and Tenten was screaming her poor heart out. Five, and it wailed one last time before its head was squished between two large jaws. The Nidoking had satisfied its fill and left, leaving them nothing but the fragments of their team, their friendship.

Were they even friends from the beginning? Neji was always putting him down, and Tenten was doing her darndest to bring him back up. But... after the incident she stopped smiling and Neji stopped caring and it left Lee so cold inside because maybe they weren't friends after all. They were simply kids who wanted to become Pokemon masters and just happened to all be going to the same town at the same time.

Well, if they were strangers, then Lee would have been left in the dust long ago. He was a horrible trainer, taking weeks longer than either of his comrades to get his Pokemon to their level. It was by sheer luck that Gai had been able to outswim that whirlpool. In fact, he was making one now, causing unease to settle into Lee's stomach. Stop that, he wanted to say, but simply looked to the sky to distract him.

The sky was merely the place his dreams were, unattainable because he was too afraid to even touch water anymore.

Something breathed hot hair onto his head, which is what Kunai did a lot when they were still together. Lee ignored the feeling, knowing that it's just his imagination. None of his so-called friends were coming back to get him now.

"Sweet Scent," Neji whispered in his usual irritated voice, causing Lee to think that he was hallucinating. A sweet smell filled the air, reminding the wide-eyed boy of when he had stopped their travels just so he could try and find a Pokemon he really wanted. Neji would have Bulbasaur help him along, just so that they could leave faster. Another funny thing was that Gai was coming to shore with the same giddy expression he had when Tenten would make his favorite-flavored treat.

Lee suddenly felt a weight on his head, followed by another one. Odd, because only Tenten and Neji did that when they were unwilling to admit that they were tired. He must be really depressed, because everything around his was making him miss his best friends more and more and more and -

"Lee, I never thought you were this dense," Neji admonished, grumbling in frustration before he and Tenten walked into his vision. Something breathed from above his head and he felt his hair crackling as he looked up and saw Kunai.

"You guys!" Lee shouted, too surprised for words as he felt giant tears already forming. "You came back!"_ You didn't_ _leave_. He watched with amazement as Kunai flexed his powerful wings and smiled when Tenten fed Gai the treat she was holding and Bulbasaur was emitting that sweet scent Lee always liked but Neji often refused to indulge him in.

With too many words to say and not enough words to say them all, Lee shot up and ran at the two with arms wide open. His burst of strength caught them off guard, and they all fell into the water.

Tenten laughed and hugged him back while Neji tried to get out of the water as quick as possible, but he couldn't do that with Lee on top of him and Bulbasaur constricting them all with his vines in his version of a 'hug'. "Does this mean we're Team Gai again?" Lee asks anxiously, like a young child asking to be comforted by his parents. _Does that mean you won't leave me behind?_

"We were never _not_ Team Gai," Tenten assures him, helping them all up because that's her job and she loves it. "It's just a moment of change." And Bulbasaur smiled and Gai flashed that striking pose Lee had taught him and Kunai blew magnificent fire into the air.

* * *

That night they slowly began to thread the torn patches of their friendship back together.

"I think we've been misguided from the start," Tenten said, lying against Kunai as he was dozing behind her. He was so big now... Tenten took a breath, comforted by the her loyal companion's warm, strong body. "We couldn't figure out our differences from the start, we were a pretty lackluster team. We only realized this when January died." She looked pained at her last words, never saying Butterfree's nickname since that incident. But that incident was long ago and it destroyed her friends and family, and it would have made January very sad.

"It's my fault," Neji spoke up, Bulbasaur sitting between his crossed legs at the low table they all sat at. This surprised Lee, because Neji often pushed his failures on others. He was supposed to be perfection. The lavender in his eyes spoke of great remorse for his actions, and he petted Bulbasaur on the bulb for reassurance. "I wanted - still want - to be a great Pokemon champion. It clouded my judgement, made me crave power and made me angry when you two tried to focus on yourselves. I have been selfish, I apologize."

"No! It is also my fault!" Lee yelled as softly as he could. It was nighttime, and they had all taken up housing in the inn Lee had been using for the past month. Gai was sitting at his side, looking adamant and determined just as much as his trainer. "I always wanted to play and wander around! I was also not vigilant enough with the wild Pokemon, and often had to have you two come rescue me! It is my shortcomings that have also damaged our youthful friendship. Please forgive me, for I have also been selfish!" He bowed his head, Gai following his actions loyally.

Tenten smiled at the apologies her boys were giving. She quickly relived their excitement when they got their starters, and now look at them! Professor Gai would be bawling over their lack of 'youth' and teamwork if he saw how bad they had fallen! "If we're all taking blame, then I will too," she stated, her unwavering eyes daring them to challenge her. "When January died, I felt like I couldn't go on being a Pokemon trainer. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be just like Lady Tsunade, one of the legendary Masters. I always aimed high, but I never reached high. It was my willingness to just quit that damaged us too, and for that I am truly sorry for being so selfish."

They all settled into a comfortable silence, all contemplating their actions up until this point.

As usual, Neji was the leader. He softly lifted Bulbasaur up and said honestly, "Bulbasaur has not evolved yet. I don't know why. It has been troubling me ever since Lee's Squirtle evolved." In his own awkward way, he was asking for them all to take that shaky step forward.

Of course Neji would be worried about Bulbasaur, even he never outright showed it. A person's starter is their best confidante. Neji would have loved to have gotten Charmander, what with the promise of powerful flight, but he grew to love little earthbound Bulbasaur. The plant creature reminded him of his father sometimes, always silent yet intelligently watching. Maybe he had not shown it the compassion it deserved? Undoubtedly Neji knew he worked his team to the bone. That's why his Fearow squawks irritably at him and why Dodrio constantly tries to bite his fingers off when he attempts to feed them. It's called tough love, yet they all flock to Tenten and all she does is give them a kind smile and a hug. It used to drive him insane because he couldn't instill the same kind of loyalty, but now he knew that he never put forth the effort in the first place.

"Well, Gai hasn't evolved since, Neji," Lee replied, looking over at the turtle. "I'm curious too. How has Tenten been able to discover the joys of youth with Kunai?" He turned to her expectantly, but he is sure that he already knows. A lot of his Pokemon are Fighting, Ground, or Normal. He seemed to have a fascination with the odd-looking Pokemon, and thus why he has a Hitmontop, a Hariyama, and Heracross. It's not like his Pokemon don't love him, but it's maybe the fact that he loves them too much. Even when they have the type advantage, Lee cannot figure out a way to defeat his enemies. His Pokemon don't have the right moves for their purpose, and thus bumble around without a set course to follow. Lee doesn't want to admit it, but he hasn't been working very hard enough, and Gai pats him on the shoulder.

"Kunai? I didn't so anything, he's wanted to fly since the very beginning." Tenten explained, patting the dragon merrily. But inside the knowledge that she didn't _do anything_ annoys her. Her beautiful Scisor and Steelix weren't trained by herself, she simply did the trainer trick of trading them and trading them back with the respective held items. If they grew or not under her tutelage, she was unsure of. Her Kabutops was just lucky to be high enough level to evolve right after it was de-fossilized, and refused to eat out of her outstretched hands like over-levelled Pokemon did to trainers they felt weren't experienced enough to tame them. Even if she loved them, she felt as if she wasn't a good enough trainer to really give them all they need, and it bit at her sometimes, deep in her heart.

And for a moment, they are all ten again. All of them are holding their starters, but their teams are right there beside them.

Neji is clinging to his tiny new Bulbasaur as feathers flutter all around him. His Pidgey and Spearow are mortal rivals, and his Dodrio is picking at his hair. His stupid Zubat was flapping around using super sonic when it wasn't supposed to, and his Natu was looking at him funny from the corner of his eye. He is a genius who will grow up to become a master, and will train all of them harshly despite any type disadvantages or status conditions. Their loyalty lies not entirely in their devotion to him, but his power. Their love will come later, and it will strengthen their bond until nothing can tear them down from the skies.

Lee is waving his Squirtle around like it is a stuffed animal, and Squirtle is crying and laughing at the same time because it's just so fun and scary it does not know which one to feel more. His Tyrogue is asleep beside him, a lazy-bum he feels is too young to wake up so early, while Makuhita and Heracross are busy wandering around for food. Cubone is bonking everything it sees on the head, and Lee does not discipline it. He is a failure at being a mature Pokemon trainer, but his Pokemon's immense love and gratitude for him allows him to be unafraid when he pushes forward, all of their fists raised with the flaming passion of youth.

Tenten's Charmander tries to monopolize her attention from both Pokemon and humans alike, chirping adorably and flashing his bright amber eyes because he knows she finds him too adorable to resist. Her Onix is encircling all of them, trying hard to be friendly but not destructive as Scisor uses him to harden its scythes. Her Kabuto is on her head, pinching at her buns and looking at everything with its beady red eyes. Caterpie is the only one to try and fight Charmander for her attention, and succeeds by curling up around her neck and nuzzling behind her ear. She laughs and is afraid her Pokemon won't be strong enough or resent her for being too weak. In the end, they all devote themselves to her, with their very last breath, and the death of their comrade only brings them together as if stuck together by a string shot.

And together, as Team Gai, they are unbeatable.

* * *

**A/N: So fucking obviously it doesn't need to be said. I always want to add more, but I think 4,488 words is good enough. Really, this is me rambling for a bit and some things may sound really off. It was pretty fun though.**


	3. Wonders in the Dark: I

She always wore glasses. Her grandpa told her to, and thus, Tenten kept her glasses on and only took them off when she goes to bed. And when she wakes up the first thing she does is reach out and puts them on. She then changes into some new clothes and puts her hair in long brown plaits that rest nicely over her shoulders. Then, she heads down the stairs to find her strict but kind grandpa cooking breakfast.

"Why do you wear glasses? I bet your vision isn't that bad, and even if it were, you can get contacts," her best friend Neji says as he, her other best friend Lee, and her walk down the familiar road to school. They are in middle school, in the same class with the same teacher, and even plan on attending high school together. Neji is Hinata's older cousin, and he does not like his uncle. Rock Lee is funny-looking, but his heart is always in the right place.

Tenten shrugs. "Grandpa won't get me them," she explains laconically. "He told me to always wear glasses, so that's what I do. How can I see what the teacher's writing if I don't wear my glasses?" She playfully taps her friend on the nose and turns back to walking.

Neji grumbles and rubs his nose like she had burned him. He mutters, "I don't get it." But he does not continue arguing.

At school their class is known to have the most rowdy kids, but also the smartest. They all tested into this course, the seminar program, and thus their class is smaller and they are taught away from the regular classes. Most of the other classes do not like them because they believe that all of them are the stereotypical nerds, or just really bizarre. Because of this, they have become one big circle of friends. Naruto is the class-clown, while Sasuke is the boy all the good girls want. Ino is the most popular kid at school, actually one of the few who is accepted by the outside classes, and Sakura is her long-time childhood friend/eternal rival. Shino and Kiba fight, and Shikamaru sleeps while Chouji eats. No one wears glasses except Tenten and Shino (who has highly sensitive eyes and wears sunglasses, not because he has poor sight), and thus she is referred to as "Specs" by the class foreign-exchange student, Sai.

"Looking good, Specs," the boy says when they enter the classroom. He smiles and twirls his pencil in his hand.

"Thanks!" Tenten says, uncaring if he really means it or not. Sai says whatever he wants, so she learned to take it at face value.

The class is made so that they sit in semi-circular tables to face the teacher. Iruka also devised it so that most tables had at least one female at them - with the exception that Sai sits at Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's table - and is also the reason why Lee, Tenten, and Neji are best friends in the first place. They sit near the back, mainly because Neji has the highest grades in class and thus does not need to be taught while Tenten is assumed to be able to see the board even though she studies with Neji, and because what Lee lacks in academics his two 'most youthfully radiant' best friends in the whole wide world make sure he passes the eight grade.

And despite the class being a close-knitted circle, smaller factions make up the entire group. They refer to these factions as 'teams' based on their favorite teacher is. Team Kakashi, their janitor who is always messing with students and never on the job; Team Kurenai, the school's counselor who is always there for the students and is actually efficient at her job; Team Asuma, the school principal who tries to quit smoking and may or may not be flirting with a raven-haired red-eyed woman; and Team Gai, the gym teacher who is half-crazy half-awesome and all youth.

Taking her seat in the middle of the human ice cube and the most exuberant hothead (rivaled only by Naruto), Tenten diligently listens to their teacher Iruka open up the day by teaching them the newest lesson in geometry. They are not called geeks and nerds from the outside students for nothing. Tenten finds that she is having trouble understanding the problem, and pours more of her attention into the lesson. So much, that she does not notice when Neji's hand reaches for her glasses or that Lee is watching as if the long-haired male is tentatively shoving his hand into the mouth of a lion's gaping maw.

At first, the numbers on the board were crystal-clear, but Tenten feels a whoosh of air and a feeling of lightness on the bridge of her nose... and she can still see the numbers perfectly. She shrieks. "Neji! Give those back!" She makes a grab for them, but he pulls them out of reach. She grabs his long hair and privately takes pleasure in the look of pain now etched onto his proud features. Her glasses are still in his hands though, and Tenten hears her grandpa's words echo in the back of her mind.

_"Never take your glasses off, Tenten. Only when you are sleeping and your eyes are closed underneath your blanket are you permitted to take them off. Do you understand?"_

_"Yes, Grandpa."_

Iruka is at them in a second, retrieving Tenten's glasses for her and scolding Neji with lunch detention. She is miffed when she puts them on, not because they were stolen, but because they didn't change her vision like Neji had predicted. The look of smug triumphant on his face tells her that he knows this as well as she does, but she ignores him angrily and sticks her tongue out at him when the teacher is no longer looking.

Naruto is laughing at Neji's 'display of affection' while Sasuke smirks at the impulsive move the Hyuuga is not known for. Neji's cousin looks at him worriedly, wondering if he had forgotten to take his medication. Neji high-fives Lee underneath the table, making sure to give knowing looks at Tenten until the lunch bell rings.

As Tenten and Lee sit at the usual place all of their class eats, mostly from being ostracized by the 'normal' kids, she cannot help but realize that Neji is right once again. The insufferable genius! She bites into her peanut butter sandwich with more force than necessary, causing Lee's eyes to look at her with wide eyes. She turns away from him, blushing. Most people thought that she'd develop a crush on Neji, what with all of their teasing banter, but her sights are set more on the horribly dense yet adorably kind Rock Lee. If only he wasn't into Sakura...

Tenten sighs and looks above them. Their class is said to be 'Hidden in the Leaves' due to always eating under the large tree far away from the regular lunch tables. The tree, a might old beast nicknamed Sarutobi, stands tall and strong with a thick trunk and many twining branches. It offers a cool shade during the hotter months and a place to stay for those that do not belong. Even though they're not accepted, 'Konoha' takes pride in their differences.

Adjusting her glasses, Tenten aims her sights for the highest point of the tree, and slowly pulls the specs out of the way. The top leaf blurs a bit, but otherwise it is crisply outline and detected amongst all of the other leaves. Her fears have been confirmed, and now she wonders how she will approach her grandpa like this. She could never dare to accuse him for he is a strict, almost overbearing man and she loves him. But she cannot deny her suspicions either. And just when Tenten is about to put her glasses back on, deciding that she will just keep it a secret - Neji can stuff it for all he cares, the arrogant little ass - she spies something moving amongst the branches. Looking about, Tenten sees that all of then sans Neji (lunch detention - for taking her glasses), Naruto (lunch detention - for getting paint on Sakura's face), and Kiba (lunch detention - for trying to smuggle his dog into class again) are idly eating their food underneath the shade. None of the other kids dare get near them, and the branches are thick enough to support a twelve-year-old child... so who was up there?

Her inquires are answered when something definitely _not_ kid-shaped falls down from between the branches. It looks likes a snake of sorts, with an elongated body, yet has one bulbous eye scanning around and a short, wide beak at the front. It does not see her watch it as it slithers up to behind Sasuke. Tenten thinks that Sasuke will see it, his swirling black eyes almost as good as Neji's, but to her surprise she watches as the snake-bird thing reaches over his boxed lunch and swallows a baby tomato whole. Then it takes its sweet time leaving, lazily going back to the tree and pulling itself up lackadaisically. Until it sees her watching it.

Tenten makes a surprised noise in the back of her throat when she watches the inky black snake scramble up to the foliage. Her gaze follows it up and the snake is looking at her back with its one widened, panicked eye.

"Tenten?" Lee asks inquisitively, pulling the brunette back from her staring-contest. Flustered, she turns to the other, who looks at her with concern. "You took off you glasses, and I never saw you do that before. Is it Neji? Has he made you self-conscious about your youthful appearance? Tenten, you are always a blossoming flower in my book, so do not let his unyouthful words hurt you!" He grins and gives her the thumbs-up. There it was, why Tenten likes Lee so much. His sincerity warms her heart as she forgots all about the snake, the one now making a beeline for behind the tree to escape her wandering stare, and she smiles happily.

"No, it's not Neji. I'm just worried about the geometry. I didn't get the theorem Iruka was using." It was a half-truth, but she wasn't about to talk about something so crazy even Konoha found her weird. She feels the smooth window flow through her brais and it caresses her skin. Neji walks up to them, back from lunch detention. He sees the way Tenten is smiling and blushing at Lee and he scowls indignantly. But then he notices that her glasses are off and that she has taken them off herself.

He smirks and does not need to talk. Tenten's wonderfully serene expression dissolves into an irritated pout and Neji tries hard to ignore it. _I told you so_.

Tenten's eyes glimmer dangerously. _Shut up! I still need glasses!_

Neji tilts his head to the side, nose in the air tauntingly. _Really?_

Lee is fixated with their silent transaction.

The girl crosses her arms over her chest. _Yes. I can't see the top of the tree. My Grandpa's right about my vision_.

The boy copies her, but with an air of refined attitude. _Maybe it's because the glasses are actually harming you sight?__  
_

The challenge tightens between them like a knotted cord. Tenten hesitates for one second, and suddenly the battle is won. Neji's smirk is ungodly as he takes a step forward to her and points to his own eyes. "Twenty-twenty," he says with that superior tone of his. "When was the last time you've been to the optometrist, Tenten? Surely one will say that your vision is fine."

"Shizune takes health exams every year, _Hyuuga_," Tenten tells him, stressing his last name with a frown. By now, the other kids have taken notice of their squabble. They are also interested in Tenten's glasses. "She has not told my Grandpa that I didn't need my glasses, so why don't you just stuff it." She turns away from him pointedly, their distance enough for her to whack him in the nose with her swept braids. He frowns, because now he knows that he has truly made her upset.

Tenten does not talk to him for the rest of lunch, conversely a bit with the other girls and flushing when talking with Lee. She is so engrossed with ignoring a very irritated male Hyuuga that she does not see the one-eyed snake-bird has returned to watch her with much curiosity, hiding itself amongst the leaves. And it brought friends.

As they all walk back home, Team Gai and Team Kurenai bid farewell to Team Asuma and Team Kakashi, mainly because they all live on different sides of the city. Team Kurenai is usually behind Team Gai, the bridge between them being the very shy but generous Hinata and the cold and sadistic Neji. Today Neji is not the aloof genius he is known for, but a common school bully. He is pulling at Tenten's braids as she walks, stepping on the back of her heels, and pinching her skin beneath her clothes. Each time he does this, she turns to him with steely in her eyes and he pretends that he is innocent.

Kiba cackles behind them. "Neji, that's not how you get a girlfriend!" His loyal companion Akamaru, who waits patiently for him whenever school lets out, yips in agreement from atop his head. "What are you, a first grader?" His jeering stops when Neji raises a fist. Kiba has not forgotten how hard the guy had punched him for his last remark that revolved around 'Tenten hitting puberty' and 'Neji Hyuuga becoming a full-fledged adolescent during gym'. Ah, kids.

"Neji, seriously, stop!" Tenten cries when he returns his attentions to her hair and nearly yanks her hair tie off. "Stop being such a jerk! You've got long hair too, put those in brais and pull them yourself if you love them so much!" Her scorn stings, but only mildly this time. It is not until Lee steps in that Neji's blood begins to boil.

"She's right, my eternal rival. Girls are to be treated with respect. What would your youthful reaction be if someone were to pull on your braids?" She looks at the fish-eyed bushy-browed bowl-cut haired young man like a knight in shining armor.

Neji grumbles and stops his antics. "I don't wear plaits, Lee." His words are ice as he suspends them all in awkward tension.

They stop by Shino and Kiba's neighborhood, then Lee's, and finally Tenten's. Neji and Hinata wait on the curb as Tenten skips to her doorstep of the cozy two-story little house that is painted a light blue and her rollerskates still thrown on the lawn.

"See ya tomorrow!" She giggles, the day's events far too strange to take seriously. So she doesn't.

Neji raises a hand in his form of a 'wave' while Hinata gives her usual shy smile. "See you tomorrow, Tenten," she says, stuttering a bit and playing with her fingers. Neji gives her one final look that conveys a hidden command to her. She sticks her tongue out at him and he smirks before the two cousins leave for their own house at the far side of the area.

Running up to her room knowing that her grandpa enjoys his privacy, Tenten heads to her bedroom and flicks the light on. It is a simply room with forest green walls and a bed on the right one. Many posters of action movies are hung up around her, especially of the ones that involve the badass heroine as the main protagonist, the independent woman that bites back at her male suitors and is the one that drags him along in the relationship. Those movies make her giddy, knowing that females can be just as good as males. On the wall opposite of her right now is the closed window with a simply white curtain. Her floor is a dark mahogany and she has a large alabaster rug in the middle that is a picture of Bambi surrounded by all of the forest creatures in winter.

Opposite of her bed is a thick wooden desk with a rolling chair, a laptop and her school books with several baubles and toys strewn haphazardly on top. On her left there is an enormous bookcase, for her grandpa values knowledge above all else. She had taken on the habit, and can be entertained for hours with a good thesaurus or encyclopedia, or even the wayward bibliography. She has plenty books about romance and schadenfreude comedy though. Those are her favorite and she admits it to no one.

Above her is a fan combined with a light, and it whirs slowly to refresh her from the warm afternoon. Summer was encroaching. Sitting at her desk, Tenten gets her homework done as efficiently as she can, doing the problems she is good at first before mulling over the ones that are harder. When her geometry gives her trouble, she decides that she will ask Neji about it later. He was a nuisance ever since he took her glasses, and she was not about to forgive him yet. Kid needed to get pushes down a peg or two once in a while.

So she does it the best she can and takes a shower before her grandpa calls her down for dinner. Meals are simple; her grandpa believes that it is not practical to spend so much time on something that will only last a few hours. Plus, he is not the greatest of cooks with his creaky joints, and employs his granddaughter's assistance with the heavy pot to make their pasta. As they eat, Tenten needs no prompting to regale tales of her school day, talking about this and that with enthusiasm. She tactfully leaves out Neji's harassment, knowing that it will only get her grandpa upset and Hiashi involved, which will only become more aggravating.

But just thinking about him makes her question her grandpa. He is a practical man, living by logic alone. He raised Tenten with the necessities, never giving her unneeded praise and does not overly punish her even if he is angry. He has already envisioned her going to college and picking up a suitable job that is not too middle-class but not stifling to her creativity. When she is fifteen she will get a job and her learner's permit. She will be the one to earn enough money to get a car, and when she turns eighteen she will begin paying rent. She knows because her grandpa tells her about it like it will flow out of her head if he does not remind her.

Sure, her grandpa is strict and overbearing, but she loves him because she knows that he cares, and thus she never takes her glasses off.

When she is ready for bed though, Tenten hears her friend's defiant tone, sees his arrogance grin, and can fell the remnants of him grabbing at her braids as she frees them for the night. Turning off the lights, Tenten hesitates above getting under the covers before taking her glasses off. _Just once_, she promises, and pulls the obtrusive mirrors from her face. All she sees is her dark room, the fan spinning slowly above her while her grandpa snores loudly in the room over.

Huffing, she sets her glasses on the nightstand beside her and ducks her head underneath. For the first time, Neji is wrong.

* * *

**A/N: Part one of two. This AU is not based on anything I just thought it up.**


	4. Hippocampus

Working as a cab driver in London, England was one of the hardest jobs she had ever done, and Tenten had done a lot of jobs since she had been able to work.

At first it was helping the family business in forging fine china and ceramics, as well as brilliantly ornate decorative swords, along with being a waitress at a Chinese restaurant near her house. When she got enough money to live in an apartment for her time in college, she had begun playing the guitar proficient enough to go to the park and have fun just playing for them (her father never told her that it was an 'actual job' but Tenten insisted it was to this day). Her first 'real' job had been after college, when she got her master's degree in mathematics and promptly became a corporate sheep in one of the many soul-sucking businesses of the big city. It was the most stifling part of her life, one that possessed grueling seven-to-nine long hours of continuously typing on a computer and having banal lunch breaks. One mental breakdown later about how she had wasted her life, Tenten went back to living with her parents and became an artist. Once again bored, she searched for adventure in the form of a free-lance artist. From her homelands of China, to the prefectures of Japan and the coasts of Hong Kong to Thailand, to the faraway worlds of Italy and France. After five more years of constant travel, Tenten needed another break and went back to being overlooked and underpaid.

It was surprisingly liberating.

She worked nearly all day, but had a lot of time off as well to do what she pleased. Her trusty hackneyed carriage was kept shiny and polished by the company that employed them, but once she becomes a butter boy she'll get to take care of her own. It was almost funny, how she had already lived in London for almost three years. With all of the excess time, Tenten could still be an artist and make a manageable amount of money every month. The kind of easy work that was pleasing in its own right, as well as one that did not cripple her personality and passions.

Someone standing on the street raised out a hand, and Tenten dutifully pulled over into the empty space beside them. Wearing the custom black suit that was awfully formal for just a cab driver - it's London, what did you expect? - Tenten stepped out and took the person's - a man with long hair who appeared to be of eastern Asian descent - single piece of luggage to place it in the trunk. Opening the door for him without missing a beat, Tenten slid skillfully into the driver's seat and looked up at the rearview mirror expectantly. "Where you headin' to, chap?" Living in London had a way of changing how she spoke, though she definitely looked Chinese.

"The Imperial War Museum, please," came the smooth answer, and off they went. With where they were now, which was the Pall Mall, Tenten knew that the easier route was to pass by Trafalgar Square and head down White Wall to the Westminster Bridge. From there she needed to know if she should go on West Bridge Road or take Lambeth Palace Road into Lambeth Road to get there. It would depend on the traffic and the weather, which was pretty rainy and cloudy at the moment.

Taking into account on the time and routes of traffic, Tenten decided that she would have to bypass the Westminster Bridge all together. There would be too much traffic around the Houses of Parliament.

"Hope you hadn't been hoping to see ole Big Ben, there," she said as raindrop began to splatter across the window shield. The gentleman sitting in the passenger seat had been fortunate enough to get out of the ran for now, but he didn't look like he had an umbrella with him. Which was silly, because this is London, so judging by the suit he also wore and the briefcase he had he must be on a business trip of some sort. "With the way the rain's startin', I reckon we ought to steer clear of the Bridge. It'll be crowded, and I can't let my dear passenger be late, now can I?" She smiled despite the cool rain outside. Already it had grown misty and dark, everything turning into smudges if it weren't for her good eyesight. When she had first started, she had nearly run over a few dozen people. Her instructor deemed it 'natural'.

"Hmm," the man said, contemplating his options and her words. He was obviously irritated that he would have to get wet. But then he said, "I can take a while. I do want to see the big clock tower."

Interesting, Tenten decided as she took the right onto White Wall instead of the left into the Strand. She groaned inwardly at already seeing the cars begin to pile up and slow down. "It's gonna take at least forty-five minutes just to get to the Bridge," she said ruefully, and turned on the heating when she saw her acquaintance shiver. Maybe he was smart, and just wanted to stay dry. "Ah, you'll get a good view of Big Ben now. It'll be in our sights once we get to the Bridge."

He nodded and stayed silent, enjoying the warm air flowing from the vents at the front. Tenten could already hear the irritated honking from outside, glad that cabs happened to have thicker walls purposefully to dim the road rage. It's handy too if anyone wants to try and shoot through. Bullet-proof glass and reinforced exteriors, baby.

"You're not from here, are you," she said knowingly, looking at the man's face. He stiffened under her scrutiny, but remained stoic. "I'm guessin'... Honshu. Kyoto, even; right by the Karasuma Line. You've got that _feeling -_ though I could be wrong." Derisively, Tenten highly doubted it. Her guess was correct at the pleasantly surprised look on the man's face. Deciding that now was a good time as any, Tenten added, "Name's Tenten by the way. Only way I know this is that I use to live in in Kyoto for a few years myself. Originally, I'm from Beijing. Grew up in the Huairou District. You?"

The man gave a little chuckle, suddenly not appearing like a block of ice. "Astute deductions, Tenten. I am indeed from where you proclaimed, though I often lived in Tokyo. My name is Hyuuga Neji, and I'm doing business with an old friend of mine."

Tenten tilting her head, not even paying attention to the road. Not like they were going anywhere too soon. "How long? Can't even be a few days if you didn't bring an umbrella?" Neji blanched.

"I've only been here since this morning. I was lucky to even hail a cab before the downpour." He looked outside then, watching as the people went along their day as usual, the only addition being the numerous parasols. By now, the rain didn't even affect them. In a somewhat figurative sense, it was literally water off a duck's back. Neji breathed on the glass and the frost evaporated for a second before returning to its misty state. It might even take more than forty-five minutes to stop, considering how thunderously it was pouring. Tenten decided that after she dropped Mr. Hyuuga off, she'd go with him to the museum. It had an indoor cafe, and she could definitely use a nice hot cup of tea.

"Well that solves it. I've been here nearly three years n' countin' and the first thing I learned is to always bring your brolly." Seeing Neji's questioning gaze, she said, "Umbrella. The words grow on you. It's jolly good fun, chap." She let out a chortle when Neji cracked a small smile.

"London, Kyoto, and Beijing. You've been a lot of places I see," Neji observed, his shoulders slackening a bit. "Usually all if my business is down in Japan, so being in the United Kingdom is quiet a breather. Care to enlighten me?"

At that, Tenten grinned. The rain would take a while and only seemed to get worse. Cars and people alike were going insane around them; the typical scene for her Tuesday mornings. "London's a dream, I tell ya. Workin' as a coach is surprisingly fun too. Lots of free time, I can take my carriage anywhere I want really. We cab drivers gotta learn the ins and outs of London personally. It actually took me two years to memorize everything. I can drive myself all over the place in my head. Ask me a place in London, even vague details, n' I've already picked out a path to get there. Anyways, the pubs here live up to their names. Everyone's chuffed as chips, and the food's the dog's bollocks."

"Dog's bollocks?" Neji repeated, and Tenten laughed.

"Whoops!" she hollered, cheeks tinging at the meaning. "Not supposed to say that, there! It's a good thing! Usually I don't say such slang, since I hadn't the bottle to be so informal, but 'cuz you're new here I let it slip!" Clearing her throat, though there was still no tension between then, she continued. "Bollocks means testicles, and usually it's a swear. But since I'm calling something the dog's bollocks, I am, pardon my language, claiming that it is 'the shit'. As in, really cool."

To her delight, Neji found it funny as well, and she began to entertain him will all of the casual swear words she'd never be able to tell a normal passenger. To her delight, Neji was different, and they sniggered over immature slang all the way to the museum. Big Ben stood proudly from its watch by the bridge.

* * *

"How 'bout I come in with you to grab a cuppa tea while you dilly-dally, and when you come back, I can take you to your hotel," Tenten offered as she parked on the curb. It'd save him time hailing another cabby and the annoyance of getting out to take his luggage. Neji agreed wholeheartedly, and the two ascended up the stairs into the grande Imperial War Museum.

Leaving him to his own devices, Tenten shrugged off the slight wetness in her suits and took off her black gloves and cabby hat to free the two buns at the top sids of her head. It's a childish look, but it seemed to help tell people that she's Chinese. Before, she had often been though of as Korean of Vietnamese, even the far-fetched Vietnamese! Plus, it was a practical, easy hairstyle even when she was delicately painting designs onto fine china.

Placing her gloves into her pockets and carrying her cap under her arm, Tenten fancied the many old aeroplanes hanging from the ceiling, as well as the many tanks and cannons just littering the front entrance. Still slightly waterlogged, she made her way to the cafe to the right and ordered a fresh biscuit with some coffee and tea. Since the sky kept crying, she might as well enjoy the warmth she got from the two beverages. Tenten ate in comfortable silence, holding her hot coffee as she perused the nearby exhibits. Off-handedly, she wondered what Neji was doing. A museum was quiet an unusual place to do business, especially since he hadn't come to the cafe. Rather, he had stalked directly to where all of the films would be. Shrugging it off, Tenten sipped her Joe and admired the firearms department until nearly two hours passed and Neji found her with a dark-haired young woman holding his arm.

"Ooh, a lass," Tenten said, turning to examine the woman's beauty. Younger than her, definitely, but still held an air of mature grace. Judging by her similar white eyes and face structure, Tenten easily assumed her to be family. She looked like a Japanese man's dream woman; straight dark hair with even bangs that frame her delicately pale face, plush pink lips held in a small smile. She wore a large forest green pea coat, probably just bought by the stiffness in it, that hinted to a slim, soft figure and long legs. The only exception to her image was the large tracks of land she supported, easily pronounced from the confounds of the fabric. "Quiet a bonny lass she is. Family?"

"My cousin," Neji explained smoothly. "Excuse us, but we're going to get something warm as well before joining you. Do you mind waiting in the cab for us?"

Tenten looked out to the entrance, where the rain had turned into a downpour into a typhoon. She grinned and saluted like one of the Crown's Royal Guards. "Right-O." Waving at the woman, who blushed and shyly waved back, Tenten tugged on her gloves and strutted out to brace the storm. She trembled a bit when she made it back to her beautiful black carriage, quickly turning on the lights and heat as she awaited the two family members. If Neji hadn't clarified, she would have though the woman to be his sister. They certainly seemed to share the same blood, as well as the high cheek bones, thin pale lips, and the longest eyelashes Tenten had ever seen since her old neighbor Ino back in Europe.

The two hastily returned as well, sighing in contentment once they too stopped their shivering and enjoyed the dryer, warmer temperature. Tenten took off after Neji told her which hotel he would be staying at. It'd be a good hour and thirty-five minutes from where they were, and they'd get to cross the Bridge again.

"Didn't get your name there, lass." Tenten said conversationally. "Name's Tenten. Your cousin n' I had a rip-snorter of a time discussing the pros of speaking British English, by the way." Neji coughed, apparently not wanting for her to describe to his dear sweet cousin what things like 'shag' and 'tosser' meant.

"O-oh!" the woman exclaimed, her face turning beet red already. "M-my name's Hyuuga Hinata! P-pleased to meet you, Tenten-san." Tenten thought back to her days in Japan when the woman said that. She'd missed the place, despite how different it was from how she lived now. A bit stiffling, always leaving her on edge, but it was one of those times she wouldn't give up for the world.

Jokingly, Tenten said, "At your service, Hinata-sama!" Hinata gasped as her cheeks resembled juicy ripe apples. "I lived in Japan a bit. Gotta say, it's nostalgic using those honorifics. 私は非常に古いです" Hinata giggled at this and settled down.

"I-I would have never kn-known," she said earnestly in a timidly regal voice. The way she didn't emphasize words and spoke them slowly told Tenten that the other woman didn't know as much English as her cousin did. "Y-you look very Chinese."

"I am. I was a freelance artist and thus travelled a lot of places. Japan was just one of the destinations." The brunette woman toned down the excessive use of British terms. Best not to complicate things by talking about 'chips' and 'rubbers'. Hinata was turning out to be more like a little girl than a posh woman, and it was a great reprieve from the typical blokes she dealt with.

Hinata's soft eyes that resembled the petals of lavender seemed to sparkle as she smiled, sitting politely behind Neji, who was silently listening from the passenger's seat once more. "Y-you're an artist? I love art. W-what ty-type of art do you do?" Tenten had to consider this. She never went to a formal art school where she got to practice with nude models and learn all of the terminology, but she was professionally taught from a very good veteran. She never stayed on one style though. One month it was art nouveau, the next it was surrealism, and then even that changed into sculpting to glass-making.

Shrugging, she answered as honestly as she could. "A lot. Whatever the client wants. Even if I didn't actually know it, I'd still switch to match the specifics. I think my favorite mediums to use are bronze and oil paints. Often I'm asked to make sculptures of people or animals, or I'm paid to make portraits and murals. It's very satisfactory."

"You said that you stayed in Kyoto," Neji spoke up, suddenly verbal that it threw the two women off for a second. Eyes on the road for a moment, Tenten turned to look at him. His face was contemplative. "Were you the one that made the large mural at the Kyoto University's Library?"

Damn it would have been a long time ago, back when she was still a cog in the corporate system. She had been suffocated so hard there that she must have expelled all memory of it from her system, even the name of the business she had worked for, before getting as far away as possible. But she did remember the stint she had pulled during her little 'episode' a.k.a going bat-shit insane. After all those years...?

Admittedly, she giggled a tad girlishly when she realized what Neji was talking about. "Small world," she said wistfully, "but maybe. The one I did wasn't actually a mural so much as vandalism. I can't believe they kept it up, it should be a craggily mess by now."

"Actually, it's recently been repainted and looks well," he supplied, now eyeing her with something undetermined in his milky iris'. "The library right across from Kojinguchi Dori thought that the work was so spectacular, that they had tried to find the artist behind it. So far, all of their efforts had been in vain." Now, Neji smirked. It was sorta like a smile except it was lopsided and filled with more arrogance to fill a small lake. Tenten found it not only amusing, but strikingly familiar all of a sudden... "It might be because the artist did it in a fit of frustration against her boss before taking off for a good few years." The way his eyebrows were raised slightly, the slight tilt of his head in her direction, and the suddenly wide-eyed expression Hinata had told Tenten everything as Hyuuga suddenly sounded like she had spoke it yesterday.

Taking a moment to assess her situation, and finding that even if she did jump out of the car and Neji grabbed hold of the steering wheel, she had a good eighty-percent chance of getting a tire rolling over her skull, Tenten resigned herself and swerved out of the way of a honking car. "You still never gave me my last paycheck, Hyuuga-san," she said, a voice so far back that it was like she was staring at those blank walls all over again.

But when Neji laughed, she realized how much time had passed and how it was all behind them. She wasn't in the confined cubicles of the Hyuuga business and Neji wasn't the head of the company's insufferable nephew who always made sure to point out any paint she had accidentally left on her uniform or would argue with her about her lack of 'professional etiquette'.

"Oh sod off, Neji. I'm surprised _I_ even remember all that, and my hippocampus is probably twice the size of yours!" she complained, voice strangled and high. Still, she was the proud driver of a hackneyed carriage. She had rules to follow. "I'm happy with how I ended up. I hope your business is thriving. I will drop you off, and you two can forget all about the meddlesome woman named Tenten."

To her confusion, Neji chuckled again. "What makes you think I'm letting you go after all the trouble you put us through? No, having you at the office was the most entertaining time of my twenty-fifth through twenty-seventh years of life. I believe a reunion is in order. In fact, I want to call your boss. You're going to be Hinata-sama and my cabby driver for the rest of our vacation here in good ole London." His smugness was overflowing, and if he didn't stop it he'll drown them all. But he had caught her by exploiting her professional side. She begrudgingly gave him the number and allowed him to tell her boss of his plans, offering a sum of money too ridiculous to argue again - though she did try it, he just ignored her - before telling her that he's decided they should get something for lunch.

As Tenten parked, being invited like the 'gentleman' Neji Hyuuga was, is, and will forever be, she took a look at herself in a window. Dark brown hair tied in buns at the top sides of her head. Tanned skin despite the horrid weather, and a round oval face. Slanted yet wide eyes. Her posture and shoulders told people that she knew how to fight (which she did due to taking martial arts lessons) while her black suit and tie told them that she was all business. It was only her cabby hat and dark gloves that told them of her profession.

From ceramic to naive guitarist, to sad cubicle-worker to freelance artist, and now a London-styled taxi driver. She was only a few months away from getting her own cab, and Neji would have been unable to do what he did. Lucky arse he was. With a huff, Tenten followed the two into the nice, cozy restaurant.

Turning to Neji, face full of the confidence and stubbornness she was known for, Tenten told him with a smile that coud kill, "Bollocks to you, Hyuuga Neji. Bollocks to you."

Neji only sneered and ordered her coffe for her. "Bollocks to you too, you bloody bonny of a woman."

* * *

**A/N: Not based on a series, but the idea did come from watching an informational video about London cab drivers and after watching some Fate/Zero (Mainly Saber in a suit - my one true weakness). I almost felt smart whilst writing about this, considering I've never been to any of the places I've talked about (though I've been to Beijing it wasn't an official visit so much as going to see the Forbidden City). It turned out pretty cliche, what with the whole "dredging up old memories" shtick. I'm not going to get into that, thankfully. Hope you enjoy. Any ideas would be appreciated fully.**


	5. Cai Ching

Girls aren't allowed to be Lion Dancers. They are to become the perfect housewives who will do anything for their husbands, even put their lives down for them if simply asked.

In the land of Konoha, Lion Dancing is the most esteemed and dangerous profession. Dances occur all the time as a way of resolving issues between one another and showing the village's strengths. Many times a month there will be big Dances that put the village's honor at stake, and only the top Lion Dancers are allowed to participate.

Most males are raised by an Alpha Lion that will teach them the basics of Dancing and hone their individual skills. With so few Alpha Lions though, there has always been very few Lion Dancers that make it, and even less that survive to teach the next generation. Only the best can be chosen, and the rest go on to equally important work behind the scenes. It is the Lion Dancers that are often the ones that get all of the fame, glory, and stress.

Today is a particularly interesting match for the village. A nameless Lion Dancer was challenged by the heir of the Hyuuga clan, who are known for their noble blood and lethal Dancing techniques. Everyone's attention not only clamored onto Hyuuga Hisoka's reason for the match, but who the Lion Dancer he had chosen was. Apparently, the boy - despite being thirteen years old, just a year above Hisoka - was born specifically to be a Lion Dancer for the village. Neither had fought a real match before, and both had been trained rigorously by top-ranked Alpha Lions. Hisoka's was his own father, a great Lion Dancer before his son who stuck to traditions like a steel clamp.

The other boy's Alpha Lion was a mystery, but was also rumoed to be the prodigy amongst his generation. Thus, everyone tried to find who this Lion Dancer was and were eagerly anticipating the match. The nameless, yet advanced Lion Dancer, against the heir of the most powerful clan of Lion Dancers in the country. It is a fight that cannot be taken lightly.

Inside the Hyuuga Household itself, there was a buzz. Only Hisoka seemed to actually know who his opponent would be. His father didn't care as long as Hisoka won, and had begun adding to the young male's already cruel training regime.

So, while wearing the tunic for all young Lion Dancers with trimming the colors of the Hyuuga eyes that have torn to shreds and pants marred with dirt and grime, Hisoka let his cousin Nejimi begin attending to the worst of the wounds. Nejimi was a porcelain beauty. She was the most sought-after bride in all of the country for her impeccable skills and demure manners. She held a natural elegance and an instinctively razor blade quality that swept prospective suitors off their feet. She will not marry though until either a very important suitor comes up, or when she turns eighteen. For now, she is learning how to serve her future-husband to the best of her abilities. Hisoka had always admired her stoic nature, but sometimes he wonders if she's lonely arranging flowers all day.

"T-thank you, cousin Nejimi," Hisoka whispered for the fourteenth time since he had been sat down.

Nejimi's long, deft hands moved over the cuts and slashes likes the wings of ghosts while she worked. "Do not thank me. You will scar." Hisoka didn't mind though. His flesh had already been cut through countless times, and it made him feel bad when his cousin had to run her fingers over them with her own flawless skin. Secretly, despite their scarce interactions, Hisoka hopes that Nejimi will never be physically hurt in her life. She was much too dear to him.

"You are already one of the clan's b-best healers," he said, stuttering on a word or two out of habit. "I trust you will be there fo-for me in my fight this evening." Nejimi's hand twitched and Hisoka quickly added, "Y-you don't hav-have to go if yo-you do not wi-wish to!" he cleared his throat and tried again at a less panicked tone. "I-I mean... you have never left the Hyuuga household before, cousin Nejimi. I-it will be an honor to take you outside... as well as watching me fight." He then smiled as pale fingers stopped all together beside him. Knowing that eyes as white as his were looking at him, Hisoka summoned the last of his courage and said fondly, "I-it will give me a reason to w-win."

He dared not turn his head, less the small imperceptible smile his cousin wore would vanish like a startled koi.

* * *

Hisoka felt eyes on him. He knew his clan's bloodline already allowed for him to see in nearly all directions, but these were not only the judging eyes of his father in the stands, but also all of the awaiting gazes of all of Konoha. They had come to watch him, and were it not for the knowledge that Nejimi was also watching, Hisoka's nerves would have taken over and he would have tripped as he awkwardly made his way to eager gates for the contestants.

For the audience, two Lions with the finest of fur and most ferocious jaws stalked forward. One was pale white with noble blue accents. Its entire body was dressed in clear-cut crystals that, instead of appearing only white, reflected all of the colors to give the lion a regal pastel look. Behind him was a simple helper who assisted by making the back legs walk and to help Hisoka up when the Lions were facing each other and were raised to their full height. For now, only Hisoka could see his opponent. It was that crucial stare down between Lion Dancers, the small moment they share that reflects all they have on the line.

His rival is clad in the 'devil's' colors known as black and red. Ribbons of gold enhance the menacing image as the black lion saunters up to intimidate. This lion is bedraggled already, appearing is if it was born from an erupting volcano. Its fur is thick and wild with ruby chains clattering around its ferociously. Pyrite eyes stare in an endless glare as thick red eyelashes flutter with smug eccentricities. It large feet stamp the ground with an immense roar in direct contrast to Hisoka's smooth, sleek entrance.

Both lions sway from side to side as they approach, circling each other and sizing each other up like real predators. Large drums are pounded in the background and flutes play a haunting melody that sounds like the vibrations of a war. _Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump_. The two continue doing this, moving in a well-practiced choreography as the beat gets louder and Hisoka's heart beats faster in anticipation. Instantly, all goes still the music stops and Hisoka is lifted up by the waist to make the lion reach its full height. He and his opponent are facing each other, and everyone can see him.

Hisoka is suddenly very small inside. He really shouldn't have agreed to this. Oh, but his cousin and father are watching him...

Thankfully, his opponent gives him a sneaky smile. Hisoka is slightly reassured at that grin. Tao Tao was such a good friend to have. He was so glad that the other had agreed to the match in the first place.

When the two were set down, the large furs are thrown off and the helpers scramble out of the ring as the gates close behind them - it is only Hisoka and his opponent.

Hisoka has short dark hair, slightly choppy in the back with two longer locks that frame his pale round face and bright eyes. He is on the lanky side but is otherwise in fantastic shape. He wears the robes of a new Lion Dancer, made of blue silk with three simple clasps on the front. His has golden trimmings on the front of the shirt and the sleeves while an alabaster sash is wrapped around his waist. His pants are also the same color of snow, if just to emphasis his status in the society. Already he has his bloodline activated, and he stares the other boy down with all of the grace of a Hyuuga in the Gentle Fist stance.

Tao Tao is a few inches shorter with even messier soot black hair and sunny skin, his features are arguably boyish and mature at the same time. His eyes are closed yet they hold a lot of playful mirth while he gives a carefree smile. He wears the same blue tunic with the three clasps, but his has no trimmings and he wears no sash. He also wears generic black pants and is assuming a generic Lion Dance pose for battle, the Prowl of the Tiger.

Around the two, a silence is developed.

"The nameless Lion Dancer is clanless" begins humming through the masses, and Hisoka can _feel_ his father snorting with distaste, already losing interest before the match has even begun. _Don't lose hope yet, you still have surprises_, Hisoka tells himself firmly as he edged closed to the center. Tao does the same thing and Nejimi took a deep breath because her lungs were choking with anticipation, and then the two boys flung themselves at each other.

On that day, the people remembered a whirlwind of creamy white scales and shimmering silver ones exploding like a shower of petals. Lion Dancers can, funnily enough, turn into dragons.

Due to his noble birth, Hisoka had five regal talons for each foot and a dark blazing mane that whips around like a torrent. His blank white eyes, almost lilac in hue, are bulging and can see everything as they find Tao's tenketsu. His body is small and lithe, incredibly fast and agile as his jaw is elegant but filled with sharp little pointed teeth like rows of white glass.

Tao on the other hand, glints like metal and is bigger, thicker, and has a scruffy burnt mane. He has only four claws, but they are bigger and stronger and when he opens his mouth his two front canines protrude like curved scimitars. All of his teeth are hooked, like some wicked tortue device used for tearing. He has long horns as well, that curl and spiral behind his ears and soot is breathed out from his nose, hot and singing.

His eyes are still closed, and only Hisoka knows that Tao is not going to fight to his fullest. Only Hisoka knows why as he and Tao race for each other.

Hisoka's teeth dig into Tao's stomach while one claw grips his neck hard enough to puncture the skin. The rest of his body is flapping around wildly to keep the other down, but Tao's long flowing tail wraps around his leg and yanks him off with a spurt of blood. Tao snarls, slashing at him, and the two rip apart for a moment. Hisoka can feel the deep gouge in his shoulder from where he had been hit, but Tao has more wounds despite them being shallower, and Hisoka gives himself an inward pat on the back. But he can't let up his guard yet. Not now, not in front of Tao, and especially not when it has just begun.

Blood and scales have already fallen to the ground and the two organize themselves. Hisoka's fangs flash with chakra menacingly. One bite and he can render Tao's chakra network paralyzed. But Tao bristles and all of his scales now stand on edge and each is like a kunai that will stab Hisoka if he is careless. Tao's fangs do not need chakra to make them any more deadly.

Hisoka rushes at his opponent and avoids the snap of those powerful jaws. "Jyuuken!" He brings his own mouth onto Tao's back right leg, crunching down into muscle and wrecking havoc on the chakra there. Tao howls in pain as he once again brings his tail to slap across Hisoka's face. Only, this time it is reinforced with steel and a flurry of pristine white scales coated in blood flutter across the field like wings of dead butterflies. Hisoka can't help but cry out when he feels those sharp-edged scales dig into the side of his face, but he has to keep his eyes open and dodge Tao's next bite.

Parting once again, this time both actively bleeding from their injuries, Hisoka shakes his head around to get the blood out of his eyes. It drips along his cheeks and down his neck, enough of the scales around his eyes ripped off to expose the soft white fur and pinkish flesh now coated in crimson.

Wincing and one leg down, Tao grinned sheepishly at potentially blinding Hisoka before laughing in that barking manner most dragons use. The crowd waits in anticipation as the two fighters make a ring of red by walking in circles once more, their eyes caught on each other to analyze the next move. The fact that Tao is laughing as he bleeds, lips curled up with glee as his eyes remain curiously closed, only endears the audience to him. All according to plan, Hisoka thinks sardonically - and once again they charge.

Both feint upwards, right into the sky before twisting and grabbing each other with their mouths. Hisoka feels those hooked teeth, each like an individual serrated knife, in his stomach and he feels like passing out - but his has the advantage like this, fangs around Tao's wounded shoulder and closing off the chakra there. If he stops enough passageways, Tao will be unable to keep up his defense and the battle will already have been won. But coupled with the grip on him, Hisoka is forced to let go when he feels Tao's claws drag themselves down over his back, ripping out hair and scales that bring forth rivers of blood and screams. Breathing heavily, Hisoka calculates where he needs to strike next as Tao has already begun redirecting chakra to only certain parts of his body such as his neck, around his legs except the useless one, and his tail. Hisoka grimaces at the other a bit. He'll win, but it certainly wouldn't be easy.

Tao's teeth have already been stained with Hyuuga blood, and he lashes out for more. If he is able to bite down again, Hisoka isn't sure that he'll have the willpower to keep the upper hand even if Tao was currently being as gentle as possible with his attacks.

Deciding that it won't be an option anyways, Hisoka ducks and weaves through Tao's messy lunges using his greater agility to try and find the rest moment to strike. Another claw, this one too close to his throat for comfort, causes Hisoka to lash out and get a mouthful of blades when he puts pressure down on Tao's own claw. From his perilous grasp and having his mouth suddenly cut open, Hisoka falls backwards bringing Tao with him and the two topple back down into the arena. The impact causes a large dust cloud to form, obscuring their forms.

The crown roars for more when the two struggle for what to do next. Tao does not keep his iron defense, the only usable scales left being along the end of his tail, while Hisoka is struggling to choke up blood to breathe, his side aching and shoulders trembling.

Nejimi gasps in the stands and Hisoka leads one last charge. He has the advantage from what the crowd can see, he will not let his father down.

Tao thwumps him with a headbutt to the side, and tugs out more hair that is more of a distraction than an injury while Hisoka twists around and claws frantically as his silver flank. Tao snaps back at him and the two are once again in close-combat fisticuffs. Instead of biting, they claw and ram their heads into each other's sides, bruising and barking like rabid dogs. It is primal and supposed to be a show, even if Hisoka feels all of his muscles scream at him. Tao's smile is gleaming in the flurry, and when he opens his mouth his eyes also open a sliver to reveal blazing vermillion pools of fire and both dragons make their move.

Jaws bite down, one stronger than a rushing river that crunch into muscle and shutting down chakra, and the other a pinpoint strike made precisely to rip through muscle and into bone marrow. Both swallow their yells when they tumble to the ground, panting from the exertion and their wounds. Both attempt to return to their legs, but Tao seems to baulk and his head falls to the ground in one smooth graceful arc like a katana. Hisoka wobbles up instead and places a claw over his friend's neck in a show of triumph and to help his shaky body stabilize. Tao's barely-opened eyes focus on him, and he gives Hisoka a secretive little grin just for the two of them.

The people in the stand cheer around them, a loud booming force that washes over Hisoka and basking him in glory. Not only has Hisoka won his first match and proving to his father that he is worth being the heir, but Tao will be honored for such a brave performance and undoubtedly spoken up with reverent tongues.

Both shrink down into their normal human appearances. Hisoka quickly steps off of the dark-haired boy's neck as a stretcher is placed down beside him. Tao is now grinning like a fool, unable to move any of his appendages and bleeding freely. Hisoka feels just as bad if not worse, as well as guilty as he watches Tao get marched off to surgery. He takes stock of himself and finds his tunic is beyond repair, many claw marks that have sunk deep into his skin - one particularly bad one over his shoulder blade. His stomach and left thigh have gruesome teeth marks, both deep and likely to put him in the hospital for a while. Hisoka feels proud and sad at the same time as he sees his cousin's face light up with worry and happiness as his father nods in concession to his son's strength.

After all, Lion Dancers are all about putting on a good show, and Hisoka has done just that.

* * *

**Three Years Later**

Tao's name has become worldwide after his match. After proving himself by facing the Hyuuga heir with honor and dignity, even if he lost, his skill has begun being required multiple times. His name now, is 'Silver Dancer' just like Hisoka's is the 'Ivory Dancer'. They have become good friends and have shared equally good relationships between families. Well, more like all of the Hyuuga's have enjoyed relations with only Tao Tao and his Alpha Lion, who only communicates with them through Tao or the rare note.

Nejimi was the only girl not to fall for Tao's charms. She is grace and elegance incarnate and she finds the way Tao is half a head shorter than her a turn-off. Still, he treats her with respect and slightly jealousy when she has to go on her dates with prospective husbands. Hisoka simply smiles at the 'blooming flowers of youth' as the 'Spring Dancer' Rock Lee would have said.

"So _anyone_ can date you, and you're not allowed to object?" Tao asks incredulously as another male leaves. The guy had been Shikamaru Nara, and though the boy is lazy and not a very skilled Dancer, he is the smartest and uses his brain to his advantage. Romantically, he didn't even stay awake through the entirety of the lunch.

Nejimi shakes her head once as she puts away the cutlery in the kitchen. "Only if they are of the pedigree. If you have a well-known clan, you can ask for a date, but Lord Hiashi must allow it. After that, because I am not eighteen and it is not of utmost importance, I can reject any marriage proposals." Tao scratches the back of his head as he walks over to her. She stiffens when he takes the plate from her and begins helping her with the dishes. It was bad enough that Tao had allowed himself in the kitchen, a place were only females were allowed, but to help out with domestic duties have made him appear sort of a weirdo towards the clan members. Hisoka chuckles at his cousin's put-upon expression she tries to cover her growing blush with.

"Tao, the Chunnin exams are coming up and father wishes for us to train together," Hisoka interupts diverting the topic excellently as he sits comfortably at the counter. He does not help with the dishes, seeing as Tao is adamantly scrubbing them with a sponge, but he does immerse himself in the 'taboo' of being in a woman's domain. The two are young and silly, and Nejimi puts up with both as best she can.

"Your father wants us to train so much I bet he thinks I'm like your conjoined twin from being around you so much," Tao gripes as he blows some of the dish bubbles into the air. Nejimi scolds him by flicking water at his face, which is ineffective because his eyes are always closed. Tao smiles despite this, and is mature enough not to begin a soap bubble fight. "Hey, no fair Nejimi! You're going to tell Lord Hiashi I've harassing you like last time and I'll get kicked out of the house again!"

Nejimi gives Tao a mix between a befuddled expression and a delightfully amused one. Ever since Tao became their best friend, she had begun to also open up. She is still the most sought-after bride in the entire Fire Country, but at least she wasn't a robot arranging flowers all day. "You are the one always starting the arguements. And it's _Ms._ Nejimi." Tao makes a funny show of rolling his eyes without opening them, pouting slightly like a whiny dog. Nejimi is not amused despite her small smile. "It's not gentlemanly to address a woman so informally, Tao Tao."

He huffs and washes the last dish for Nejimi to put away. "You only seem to think I'm a gentleman when it suits you," he says, but Nejimi pats him on the head and walks away to dry her hands. Hisoka is bubbling inside at the display. Were it any other m22ale, even him, Nejimi would not have been to haughty. Only Tao can get her real self to play.

"Tao, father is expecting us. He wants to watch our spar this time and evaluate our weaknesses," the Hyuuga heir explains when Tao tries to use Nejimi's casual kimono as a washcloth. She returns the favor by trying to shove him into the oven.

* * *

Hisoka felt biting shame inside his gut when he fell to his knees in front of the entire village, blood pouring from his mouth and burn marks smoldering his skin. Uchiha Sasuke's hatred for his brother and revenge for his clan was more powerful than Hisoka's pride in becoming a good Hyuuga heir. Hisoka cannot hide the venom in his gaze as he crumples down and is forced to gaze up at the Uchiha, wishing a bolt of lightning would come down and strike the dark-eyed male like he had done to Hisoka's flesh only moments before.

Hisoka stubbornly clings to consciousness until Sasuke limps and falls over too. They are both dragged onto stretchers and Hisoka cannot bear to scope out his father's disappointed gaze. His last thoughts of how his younger brother Hitoshi might make a better Hyuuga heir than he will ever be.

* * *

A month later and the Chunnin exams are at their finals. Only one more match each and the newest Chunnins shall be decided. It is the Leaf against the Sand mostly, with all of the Sand Siblings passing flawlessly through to the next rounds. Sasuke, too, of course. Shikamaru's wits have helped him pass as well, even though his best friend Isamu and his rival Sadao both were disqualified for turning the entire match into an angst-filled battleground.

Hisoka feels sympathetic when he learns that Lee may never be able to Dance again, despite his Alpha Lion's encouragement. Shino also won his round with incredibly grace and fluidity, which only made Hisoka think more on his defeat. The epic battle between two of the most prestigious clans in Konoha, and Hisoka lost. He wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"Tao may be fighting with Uchiha, he might be able to avenge your honor," Nejimi says placidly. She is nursing her cousin's wounds after he tried to push himself too hard again from training. With Tao's Alpha Lion wanting to handle the prodigy himself, Hisoka was left alone by himself to mull over his weaknesses and hide away in his room. Only Nejimi had offered him a helping hand, which many of their other, more distant, cousins scoffed at. To be coddled by your female sibling was an embarrassment, but Hisoka's pride had been shot so far down that he is sure that they will be unable to think any lower of him. And also he needed someone to lean on right now.

Tao was already stronger when they first fought. Of course he would become a Chunnin, Hisoka thought dismally.

"Nejimi... our first match was rigged," Hisoka confessed, breath hitching when Nejimi stopped wrapping his bruised arm for a second. "H-he had always been the better Dancer. I-I just wanted to prove to f-father that I was strong enough to lead this clan. B-but now I realize that I cannot rely on fake triumphs to pr-prove my worth. I-I'm sorry."

Nejimi's face was emotionless, as if deciding on what to say if only to ease the situation. Hisoka already knew how disappointed she was though. "You asked Tao to lose to you so that you can shine in your father's eyes." It wasn't a question and she continued. "You then lose to Uchiha because you were not strong enough to defeat him." A pang in his heart. Hisoka had promised himself not to cry. "So... now that you have lost to Uchiha, you believe that your father will strip you of your birthright because you are not strong enough."

The way she put it. So analytical that left no room for bias. It made it all the more worse because it was all true. Hisoka choked down his anguish. "Y-yes."

To his surprise, Nejimi finishing tying his bandages and pulled them one last time with a sharp tug. Hisoka gasped when she looked at him like he was an idiot and said tenderly, "Then, you should just get stronger." She stood up, gathering the medical kit she had brought, and smoothed down her skirts before walking away.

Hisoka sat there for a while, contemplating her words. She made it sound so simple, and even if it was, it was an insurmountable obstacle. To his astonishment, Lord Hiashi rounded the corner and looked pleased to see him. It was brief, quickly masked by an air of business, but it had been there. Intrigued, Hisoka allowed his father to sit by him. They watched the leaves fall from the tree in the courtyard for a while, allowing the lazy winds to rustle their equally dark hair. Unlike his little brother Hitoshi, Hisoka looked much more like their mother.

After a long, tense silence, Hiashi finally spoke. "Tao Tao's opponent is widely speculated to be Uchiha." He spoke confidantly, as if making an observation sound like a fact. The younger Hyuuga tried not to look deflated. Tao would probably walk over his opponent. As if a mindreader, Hiashi added, "Do not underestimate Uchiha's power though. It has already been common knowledge that Sasuke Uchiha's strength is derived solely from his wanton revenge against his elder brother. Tao Tao is a skilled Dancer, but I am not sure if he has what it takes to go up against such raw hatred." Hisoka nodded, a bit numbed now. If even his father was having doubts about Tao's match...

Another long stretch of time, whereas the two watched the sun set and the sky begin burning a deep amber into a smoky maroon. "You cannot let one rigged match determine your future," Hiashi said suddenly, sitting up just like Nejimi had. Before he left though, he brought out a scroll from within his robes and handed it to the shocked heir. "Please deliver this to Tao Tao the next time you see him, preferably right before or after the match. Have Nejimi accompany you though, she has been dropping hints about wanting to see him." A flutter of a smile and the chief of the most powerful clan in all of the Fire Country is gone, disappeared like the sun that had just hidden itself behind the horizon.

Biting his lower lip, Hisoka thinks about what his father had said. A rigged match? Obviously he knew then of Tao's power. So it had been all for naught? Hisoka rattled that in his head a bit. He wouldn't have been named the Hyuuga clan heir if Lord Hiashi did not think his capable. But he was far from capable! "Then, you should just get stronger," chimed in his head, and all of a sudden it made sense.

At first, Hisoka had deluded himself into believing that his power came from a match that was inevitable from the start, and had been arrogant. Now that he had been thoroughly humbled, all there is to do is keep going! It was like what Nao Uzumaki would have said. Something like, "The first step to greatness is always the first step, whatever that means dattebeyo!" Flushed, Hisoka headed to his room with his head held high. Tomorrow, he and Nejimi will be paying Tao a visit. He clutched the scroll in his hand as he went to bed, wondering what it contained. The seal on the front was not his father's handwriting, but the lines were neat and well-made. Feeling renewed, Hisoka went to bed looking forward to the next day for once.

* * *

Tao was a fucking mess. He couldn't see out of one of his eyes, having to wear a patch over it while he was _forced_ not to use any assistance despite trembling when he answered the door. Nejimi had offered to help, but Tao refused. He told them that he and his Alpha Lion had been training every day to the point where Tao's body was unable to heal itself and he was thus under house arrest. Hisoka had been too distraught over his friend's persistence in his grueling training regime that he forgot entirely about the scroll.

Instead, Tao confided in them all of his insecurities while he shivered and Nejimi held his hand. Tao had been unable to feel it, his fingers firmly wrapped in bandages and numb. He told them of how he watched Sasuke and Sadao battle on the hospital roof top, of how Sasuke had become enraged when it felt like Sadao would be able to defeat him. Of how his Alpha Lion gained the knowledge that Sasuke was being slowly pushed over the edge after his brother came by not to battle him, but to abduct Nao and Sadao. He relinquished his inner battle on fighting Sasuke with all he had, fearing that if he won it might provoke Uchiha even further.

Hisoka apologized for their first match, at which Tao tried to convince him was beneficial for the both of them but to no avail. Afterwards, they all sat in suffocating silence until Hisoka told Tao of how he _knows_ that Tao is stronger than him, and that it hurts knowing these things but he will just have to train harder like Tao had done and prove his worth by his own means. The two made sure to never become bitter just because the other is stronger, as well as to not succumb to the hatred of vengeance. And to seal the deal, Nejimi gave Tao a chaste kiss on the cheek. He couldn't feel it, but his face turned red all the same.

* * *

Even after all of the collected data and highly-desired circumstances, as well as Tao just recovering fully from whatever hellish training he had done (which he refused to divulge the details on) it turns out that at the last moment, the selections were switched.

At first it was a disappointment as well as a relief. Tao wouldn't have to fight Uchiha. He wouldn't have to go up against the rage-filled beast the younger male had begun growing into. But that meant that he didn't know who his opponent would be until the day. To his chagrin, he got Shikamaru instead.

It had to be the most infuriating time of Tao's life, because he didn't know if he should go all out or try and attack normally. His scales bristled as he was forced to try and keep off the ground, but even that could be lethal with the way Shikamaru's shadow shimmered over the land. He kept Shikamaru at a distance, hoping to wear out the other's chakra reserves so he couldn't use that pesky shadow, even using his new technique of causing his scales to turn into projectiles and shoot themselves at his enemies before they exploded. In the end, he won despite getting trapped in the Nara's famous shadow-possession jutsu. Shikamaru forfeited in a very graceful manner as he humbly returned to his human form before the other, an immense sign of respect for a Lion Dancer.

"I had around two-hundred other plausible moves to use, but I ran out of chakra just to get you to this point." He yawned. "I forfeit. Good fight, Tao." Tao's assumptions of Shikamaru easily fell apart after that, as well as his decision to never underestimate the prodigal serpent ever again.

Tao was sent to the medical wing for his severe lack of chakra and from having several of his own explosions detonating too close to his skin. He was surprised when Hisoka came by then, offering him a scroll with a handwriting he was too familiar with for comfort. Hisoka and Nejimi waited respectfully outside of the door, and were surprised when they heard Tao begin to cry. They peeked inside, and saw him with the most serene smile he had ever had in his life, molten red eyes glistening with relief as if a cage door had been opened for him. Nervously, the two left Tao be, wondering what could have been in that scroll just as a loud earthquake shook the building and the Lands Hidden in the Sand and Sound attacked.

* * *

Sasuke had defected. Shikamaru assembled his most trusted team to bring the ass back, screaming and kicking if need be. Lee was undergoing his surgery that would determine if he would be allowed to continue Dancing or not, but they don't have the time and must go as a five-man cell. Shikamaru Nara. Sadao Haruno. Isamu Yamanaka. Shino Aburame. Tao Tao.

They left in a hurry, unable to tell their friends and families when - _if_ - they would return.

Hisoka and Nejimi waited in agitation with the rest of the village, their panic rising when Rock Lee rushed after them right after his operation was a success.

A day after the mission, Shikamaru came back looking lost beyond words. Mission failed. He was limping and having to use Temari, his rescuer, as a support. Rock Lee was being hefted by Gaara's sand. Isamu was put into a coma from overriding his mind-transfer jutsu. Shino was gravely wounded with several gouges inside of him, nearly all of his insects decimated. Sadao came back unconscious in the arms of his Alpha Lion Kakashi, clutching Sasuke's headband unconsciously.

Tao came back already dead, two incredibly large holes that went straight through his body and numerous lacerations already becoming infected from fighting a monstrous spider-like dragon that could maneuver around his steel-coated defenses. Prince Takehiko the Slug King had to operate on him the moment he returned, using his own scales and raggedy hair to help close the wounds - and even with the most skilled medic in the land his chances were slim. When he finally woke up, Hisoka wanted to cry out of fear and happiness. Nejimi lost all of her princess-like nature when she screamed at Tao for not telling them how severe the mission was, as well as demanding that he take her out on the most expensive date he will ever be able to afford.

"And you're not allowed to get a dessert!" she breathed heavily, a furious swan flapping her wings in fury before a barely-conscious Tao probably doped to his eyeballs in pain medication. Hisoka was behind her, twiddling his fingers nervously as he saw Tao slowly open his eyes a crack and looked over at him. A smile was on his lips, a shining secret just for them.

"It's a date," he conceded.

* * *

**A/N: Some really twisted version on if Naruto only could have males be ninjas. I _had_ to add dragons. It was much harder to actually make everything align with the story, but hopefully there won't be that many plot holes I am leaving out. At least if it was this way, Tao would have gotten a lot more screen time. Any knowledge on Eastern dragons and Chinese lion dances may also help with understanding. Hope you understand all of the name-switches too.**

**9/17/12: I edited this but it still looks very choppy. Most of the weird wording and spelling mistakes were weeded out, but let me know because I am just terrible at this.**


	6. Beauty of My Life: I

**N**

**E**

**R**

**D**

* * *

When they were both younger, they had really long hair.

Hers was a tidal wave of auburn that always seemed to feel like summer and smell like warm blankets. Often she kept it up, but it was the most beautiful down because it became a gorgeous tangled mess and flew in the wind. Her hair puffed up and fell all around her head, often reaching her lower back. It felt so similar to soft fur on a cat, and if you tried to pet her you'd likely lose a hand. She doesn't usually wear her hair down, because of how impractical it gets, but sometimes she wears twin plaits that trail after her small body like rivers of mahogany.

His was a deep bistre in hue that hovered between dark chocolate and jet black. If you touched it, let it slide between your fingers, it falls between them like slippery chains of seaweed. If you get close it smells like the ocean. He usually keeps it out of the way, restraining it in a low ponytail, but if he ever lets it loose it has a tendency to glide softly in the breeze and sway like a banner. It could drape over his shoulders and linger down his back like water, just as fluid if you combed it.

They had been really good friends when they were younger, back when times were easier and the world wasn't such a scary place.

She moved to China and he stayed in Japan until his freshman year of high school, the year that he lost his long hair and she in turn lost hers.

Neji remembers clearly how the grimy linoleum floor of the men's bathroom had tasted, smelled like, and felt like as the abhorrent _douchebag_ of a football's star quarterback Kidoumaru held him down and called him a pansy girl. He then proceeded to shave off all of the hair on Neji's body. All of it. And when he was done, having to use violence to keep the struggling adolescent down, he threatened to cut even more of Neji should he breath a word of it to anyone. Neji went through his first year of high school getting jeered at for his looks and withdrew deeply into himself. He couldn't bear the shame of telling anyone of what had happened; as if anyone would believe him either. He was just some creepy looking nerdy freshman and Kidomaru was the school's homecoming king. He'd always be a loser, and kept his hair short after that. Partly because it'd be asinine to try and grow it back to its original length of just between his shoulder blades, but because he was afraid Kidomaru would just cut it all off again. He kept to his academics and was the smartest kid at school. He never got acknowledged for it - not like he cared.

Tenten didn't even attend her freshman year of college. She had been stuck in the hospital after a horrendous accident impaled the side of her head. She had to go into surgery and get all of her hair cut off so the doctors could fix her skull. For most of the school year she was recovering from the mental trauma of blades getting too close to kill her, as well as her face needing to heal and feeling too embarrassed not to walk around with scars all over her. Most of them were covered by her hair, which she quickly tried to grow up, but her nose, mouth, cheek, and around her eyes will always be covered in small nicks and lines; the worst one being under her right eye where it was the most visible even from a distance. Her parents never allowed her anywhere near the family's collection of war blades after the incident, claiming that it was her own fault in the first place and that her deadly obsession with knives will wind up killing her. They are a strict, traditional Chinese family, and Tenten found no reprieve. She only went back to school a week before freshman year ended, and everyone feared her. Despite her story, which was labeled as just a horrible accident and a non-purposeful self-inflicted head trauma, rumors spread that she was a dangerous sociopath even when she grew her hair longer to hide the scars. She turned to books, because they don't judge you.

The hatred grew on him, and after one sinister breakdown later, Neji was nearly expelled from school. He had begun threatening people, if only to leave him alone, but their gossip grew and now he was deemed mentally unstable and to be 'transfered' immediately as to not tarnish the school's reputation. His uncle was infuriated, and sent Neji far away so that he couldn't stain his family name anymore. To a place where no one knew the name Hyuuga. To a place where he was still a nobody.

Her parents couldn't stand being asked if their child had self-inflicted her wounds upon herself. It made them seem like bad guardians, and so they took her out of school and flew her around the globe where she will still have her scars, but at least people might be more believing to her story. Tenten didn't make friends though, because no matter the place people were scared of her face. So she merely blended into the background.

He threw himself into his studies, already taking all Advanced Placement courses and giving himself no room for electives. She blinded herself to the scorn of her teammates as she went into as many sports as she could, the best female athlete and the most hated one. Too engrossed in the dark parts of their minds, they never reunited until much later in their miserable high school life. By then it could have been too late.

His hair remained as a short crew cut, not enough hair to grab at (he had grown paranoid, he admitted) but also long enough so that he didn't look ridiculously bald.

Hers was still thick and wild, but it grew slowly and frame her round face. She had to fight to keep it out of her eyes, not even long enough to put into a small ponytail still.

* * *

Tenten participated in numerous school activities. Her elective was the dance class, and attended the girl's soccer practices every week. Every Wedsneday she would join up with the sports club and play a variety of engaging activities before heading home. She balanced this dutifully with her increasingly demanding academics, and now that the year was ending she was more stressed out and put even more time in her studies than in her already-minimal free time.

Many of the girls regarded her with disdain. To them, she was just like any other nerd, who just happened to be the best athlete too. They couldn't wrap their heads around how she could have the best of both worlds, and shunned her for it. The guys were easier to get along with, but because they didn't see her rowdy nature very 'girlfriend-material' they also passed her in favor of others who could wear lipstick and walk in heels. Tenten wasn't bothered by this, she wasn't interested in making friends with those slackers and two-timers. In every story pertaining to high school life she had ever read, she had decided to bypass all the needless drama for people who obviously rode on their parent's wallets and thought true love at first sight was real. Smirking, Tenten prided herself on being one of the top kids in school. Only few others could hold themselves higher than a 4.0, and she took great pride in being one of those few. She didn't know who else had it, but as far as she knew there were only about four or five other students.

But now, what was really annoying her was her dance class. They were to perform for the school right before final exams, and within a month they had to make their own choreography to be completed, memorized, judged for a grade, and if yours was liked then you would be performing for the entire school. Tenten would have been okay with it, but her problem lied in the fact that you couldn't do your dance solo. She needed a partner, and everyone had paired up in their little cliques already.

Tenten wasn't worried about not having a partner and not getting the grade - their teacher would simply break apart a team - what she was worrying about was her partner not meeting her 'unbelievably high standards'. Tenten desired well-coordinated control. She was a workaholic, some would say, but she already was admitted to the best college of her choice so she found no need to listen to some trollops whine about wanting to slack off just because it was the end of their senior year. Besides... she really did want to perform for the school. It would be her last send-off to this horrible place, to show everyone just how much better she was than them.

It wasn't even pride! Tenten came from a mediocre Chinese family, and when they moved they were even poorer. Her mother and father worked bone and tooth to send her to this school, while everyone else used their parent's influences to attend, and then shirk their responsibilities! If Tenten knew anything, it was to respect your elders. No one else seemed to think the same, complaining about how strict their guardians are about their curfew at eleven o' clock or not allowing them to pierce their bodies or getting a tattoo. For Tenten and her upbringing, it was all incredibly distasteful and idiotic. She wasn't going to waste her education on the same pointless things, she would rise above them all with her hard-work; even if no one ever saw her shine, she'd shine brighter than them all.

Because of that, it almost came as a surprise when the dance class' male prodigy, Miriam Delacroix, approached her saying that he'd be her dance partner. Tenten saw through his charming smile immediately. His girlfriend broke up with him after accusing him of cheating on her (of which nothing has been proven or disproven yet) and was going to use Tenten, the class' female prodigy, to make her jealous. She called him out on it, and while he stubbornly dismissed it as his girlfriend being a ginormous bitch anyways, she agreed because he really was good.

Sadly, he was poor in a lot of other things, such ad academics. But it wasn't her problem if he flunked his ass for trying to win a girl in some silly show of impressing her.

* * *

Neji could not _fucking believe this_. The school heartthrob, Miriam Delacroix (_OH_, Neji had thought with much annoyance, he's _French_), approached him and asked him if he could do his homework until the end of the year.

"You damned cheese-eating-surrendering-monkey," Neji spat as he sat in the library in his usual corner, arms folded across his chest in aggravation. Miriam just kept that amiable smile on him, no doubt the smooth-talker with the ladies (_sluts_). "What makes you think that I'd do your homework for you?"

"I want to delegate all of my time to choreographing for the big dance," the beautiful dark-haired dark-eyed young male replied, no doubt his tongue made of polished silver. "And I won't be able to have any time besides studying for finals. I need you, Neji-kuhn." The white-eyed male growled ferociously. How _dare_ someone misuse honorifics like that! It was an insult to his heritage!

"What makes you even _think_ that I will agree to this?" he said, eyes alight with indignation. _How about you jump off a cliff instead, you frog_.

Miriam kept up that shit-eating award winning smile of his, leaning against a bookcase languidly. Neji was about to snap at him, saying that he'll topple it over like the amphibian-brained delinquent he was, had the heartthrob not spoken up, "Well, wouldn't you like to see me perform an amazing dance with the lovely Tenten-chyan?" Neji's heart stopped, only giving one stunned glare at the other for mispronouncing yet another honorific.

_Tenten_.

It couldn't be the same girl, could it? He had never looked... ever since she moved away, they had lost communication. And ever since freshman year of school in Japan... he had given up on having any friendship; even his family had estranged him. If she was here...

Instinctively, Neji's hand flew to his incredibly short dark brown hair. _If she is here... she never recognized me_. He almost chortled with dry amusement. To think that they'd only be able to recognize the other by their hair! Their relationship had been a lot more in depth than that; it was true though, if this Tenten wore the same buns in her hair he would have recognized her instantly. To Neji's chagrin, he realized that if he had seen her, they were merely indistinguishable faces amongst the masses.

He was broken out of his thinking when Miriam spoke up, this time a blade of steel hidden in his words, "And even if pretty little Tenten can't convince you, I can always just... _persuade_ it out of you."

Neji froze. He had never told anyone of getting bullied by Kidoumaru, but he should have known that it was what someone at the top of the chain would do to someone lower who didn't agree with them. Adjusting himself, Neji hung his head in grim submission. It seemed that he would always be at the end of the food chain. Maybe when he becomes CEO of a large company, Miriam will be there mopping his floors, but for now, it was Delacroix who held the aces.

"Good!" Miriam exclaimed, as if they had just come to a very diplomatic conclusion together. "I knew that Tenten wouldn't have been enough! She's too uptight! Always studying in the library or out playing sports! What a crotchety bitch! Well... sai-ooh-nar-wa!" And with that garbled mangling of the Japanese language, Miriam was gone to go make-out with whichever big-breasted daddy-issues girl he had that week. But it got Neji thinking.

If he met up with Tenten, they could maybe become friends again. It would ease the pains in his heart, even if it probably wouldn't get him out of doing Miriam's fucking homework. Funny, how she was apparently in the library too! He had always retreated to the most isolated place, and now it had come to bite him in the ass. Neji rushed to a school computer, looking up the students and going straight to the Senior T's. Tenten was at the very end, because either she really didn't have a last name like she told Neji all those years ago, or her name really was that hard to continuously spell without growing up knowing how to write Pinyin.

He found the basic data of her, even where she lived, but what surprised him was the picture that was taken at the beginning of each year. Sure, she'd change by now, but to this extreme?

"Your hair...," Neji breathed, blinking a bit and ignoring how everyone scooted an inch away. He was creepy looking, who gives a shit? He turned his gaze back to the image, wondering if it was creepy to also want to print out her picture and put it up in his room.

Her long brown hair she had loved had been shorn short, just like his, but it almost looked as if she was trying to grow it out with the way it was tangled all over her head and framing her face in vibrant, thick curls. Her hair had always been a giant bush when it was lose, but seeing her wide eyes and bright smile, slightly dimmed a little, made Neji rediscover his loneliness. This was so fucking stupid, to have all these feelings of missing her come back. He wasn't fourteen anymore.

And then he noticed something. There, under her right eye. A jagged line of skin, a lighter shade than her regular caramel tone, was a scar. He took a breath then as he discovered smaller ones, and even some peeking out from beneath her mass of hair. What had happened to her? To disfigure her beaming face like that?

Neji had to know. He couldn't look up her schedule, but he can scour the school more. She was apparently in dance class, if what Miriam told him was true. He'd have to catch her.

* * *

Tenten couldn't help but feel like she was expecting something. It had first started out as Miriam sweet-talking their teacher into letting them practice in the auditorium so that they had more room, but now it was as if he was forcefully dragging her out of the dance room as quickly as possible.

He was... not as good as the girls gave him credit for. One, he couldn't lift her up worth shit. Apparently her boobs were too fat, and not because he wasn't the most athletic guy she knew (that reward still goes to the sweet Japanese boy, Rock Lee, back when she lived in Japan). And because Miriam was too much of a pussy to allow _her_ to lift him up instead, they had to resort to acrobatics. Which would have been fine for Tenten had Miriam actually been god at doing a backflip more than three times in a row.

The moment he stumbled and fell, she knew that she'd have to one day lower her standards. "Try it again, and this time keep focusing on one central point. It's just like a ballet turn," she admonished, thumbing through all of the next moves they might be doing. Miriam, having already been insulted by her for the millionth time, kept his mouth shut for once and just prepped himself for the next set.

Tenten was only happy that he was indeed a fast learner. She didn't see why girls like him, but at least he had one redeemable trait. Turning back to her laptop, surfing the internet for any interesting dance moves, Tenten sighed to herself. For the past week she had this gnawing feeling eating at her innards. She had first thought that she was forgetting to eat again, but whenever she went out to get something, she was never hungry as soon as she got back home. Her parents were complaining that she had too much yang in her, and had begun getting her old Chinese recipes to bring back her yin. It was disgusting, but not the worse they had done.

She could never forget having to stay in a bath of leeches and pond water. She got a rash from it and had bloody spots all over her the entire week! Naruto had claimed that she was contagious with the chicken pox, and made a show of running away squealing like she had cooties. The day got worse when some girls she didn't know began picking on her by cornering her during lunch, pulling at her buns until they almost fell apart. Thankfully, her old friend Neji intercepting them and giving her his juice box because he knew she liked that flavor. It had been a happier memory, she recalled, because Neji had even remarked that he didn't care what she looked like.

"あなたのルックスは重要ではありません," he said as he offered up the juice carton. Her hair was ruined, but she wasn't going to take it out just to put it up again. He'd never seen her without her buns, it would be too embarrassing. Gratefully, she took the juice and caught how he smiled so subtly if she was an inch farther she wouldn't have seen it. "あなたの人格が重要です。"

Now grinning widely, no matter what those girls has said of how ugly she was or how no boy will love her and she'll be unmarried for the rest of her life, Tenten exclaimed jubilantly, "本当にありがとうございました_, _ネジくん！我愛你！" She had always kept that a secret, but reveled in how she could tell him that every day. He never knew, even if he asked her what that meant, and Tenten wondered if one day she'll ever get to chance to have him understand it.

"Fuck!" Miriam swore, having apparently hit his head again. Suddenly back to beautifully hideous reality, Tenten groaned and got up to scold the arrogant ass. She felt that _knowing_ of someone searching for her when she walked over to Miriam, and when she glanced over her shoulder to the large auditorium where everyone will be watching her come next month, she saw no one but empty chairs. The bell rang, signaling for the end of the period. She walked off, not even helping Miriam get to his feet.

* * *

Neji chickened out on Friday. A whole week of waiting patiently outside the dance room, wondering why none of the girls held the same self-confidence Tenten had or the shining radiance she naturally exuded, only to find out that she and Miriam were given exclusive permission to train in the auditorium.

"Why are you so interested?" the girl who had told him, having become annoyed that such a freak would constantly be outside the door when they exited for passing period. "Just 'cuz she's dancing with Miriam doesn't mean she's desirable. She's so snotty, always out-staging us! Ugh, what a bitch!" That's the second time Tenten had been insulted in such a way. Neji found it increasingly difficult not to strangle the people who have said it, too. The first was that Miriam cocksucker, and the second would be this blondie with the giant hoop earrings and shorts that broke the dress code by a good eight inches.

"I don't have to tell you anything," he shot right back. "Thanks for telling me, though, it hasn't been pleasant listening to you."

And off he went, waiting patiently for Friday the next day to arrive so that he can track her down. He excused himself early from class for not feeling well, and immediately found her. She was sitting on a work-out ball, laptop and notes out either on her lap or around her. She looked so peaceful, sitting there. Then, Miriam did an impressive set of three flawless back-flips, getting rather clumsy on the fourth, and smacking his head against the stage on the fifth. He swore indecently, prompting Tenten to scowl and get up.

The way her face looked, the scar under her right eye and fiery mess of short brown hair, was too much for him, and he left right as she turned her back to address her dance partner. He was afraid, wondering if the changes to her face would also mean changes to her personality. She wouldn't recognize him anyways, maybe even if he told her his name. Would she disregard him, just an old friend she didn't have time to rebuild relations with? Would she fear him, and how eerie his short hair and blank eyes made him appear to everyone else? Neji wasn't exactly the most self-assured person, he knew, but in regards to his best friend he had thought he always knew how he felt. Now he didn't know how _she_ felt and it made him miss the times when he thought she did.

"我愛你！" she had told him back in Japan, when everything was simpler. She wouldn't tell him, but he had asked her parents one day and they told him its meaning. Every time she said it, he felt it was like their little secret. It had been nice, feeling loved, even if it had been a childish middle school crush.

Neji wasn't an idealist. He knew that his feelings for her were nothing but puppy love and vice versa, a strong friendship on the delicate string of growing up and hormones. Maybe if they had stayed in Japan, it could have blossomed into real affection, and even love when they became adults. But now, all he wanted was for her to remember him and not turn around like she had done in the auditorium. Sure, she was just scolding Miriam (apparently doing three perfect backflips was slacking off, go figure) but she had turned around all the same.

So he didn't follow her anymore, and did Miriam fucking Delacroix's homework like a chained dog who got kicked when he didn't do the right command. Tenten didn't have to know him, it wouldn't change a thing anyways. She'd still dance with Miriam and he'd still be doing Miriam's homework.

It'd be nice if she passed him in the hallways and smiled at him though...

* * *

Only two weeks until they had to present their dance to the teacher, and Miriam still sucked balls.

Tenten had first been okay with it, knowing that he could improve, but now even he was waning on her. Griping about her bitchiness while not-so-subtly asking if he could feel her tits. The glories of high school life.

She also got angry looks from the girls, believing that she had 'stolen' Miriam from them by way of brainwashing. She got it the hardest from Miriam's girlfriend-slash-ex-girlfriend-slash-girlfriend#13. Honestly, she wasn't interested in any of that hooplah, it was all going to be pointless anyways. A high school romance just isn't made to last. But the fact that her stuff went missing, her locker had been busted in several times, and the constant glares were getting to her.

Tenten thought that she could handle the hatred she dished out in return, but she was just one girl with a face full of scars and it felt like no one was friendly anymore. Her glory had driven her to the top, but it made her so alone.

The lies, the truth, the glamor, and the ugly; Tenten was certain that she had been mature enough to stay out of it, but sadly she had created her own shitstorm. It was... tiring, and she took it out on sports and by studying late into the night. For once, Tenten was losing control of her life, and she hated it. She was unhappier than she had ever been, and it was because of some jackass heartthrob named Miriam. What a ridiculous asshole who gave her that price-winning grin like she was going to hand her soul over on a silver platter. Self-entitled little prick, probably wrangled some poor scholarly nerd into doing his homework for him, just so he can attend Tenten's rigorous training course to entertain a girl he'll break it off with when he gets into college.

If Tenten had to think of a proper metaphor for the guy, she'd say that he was a male peacock. Sure his feathers are beautiful and charming, but when a wild predator comes after him he'll be the one with the hardest time getting away. Watching how he had probably smashed his pretty little head against the stage so many times already, Tenten was at least confidant that her analyzation wasn't far off.

She spent the weekend with her parents, practicing their daily ritual of numerous martial arts and some great bonding time only a traditional Chinese family could bother sticking to so religiously. She and her father would spar using dull blades; the sharp ones they had were only ornamental and could only be used if a robber broke in (she wasn't allowed to even touch them after The Accident) her father had told her. Tenten didn't want to admit it, but she often found herself holding back on her old man during their matches. She was getting stronger and he was getting weaker. Sometimes she'd fear piercing through his paper flesh with the rounded tip of the sword, but her father had been sparring since he was her age and was still light enough on his feet to give her a run for her money.

Her mother would often complain about this or that, and they would squabble with each other all day in their native tongues. Sometimes they would lapse into Japanese, for old time's sake, but none of them could think back without the Knife incident coming back up and then no one was happy.

So, Tenten relaxed and ate the food her mother worked hard to make, being sure not to leave any grains of rice in her bowl less she marry someone with speckled skin. She bathed with her mother of course, because it was tradition and didn't cost as much for the water, before spending the rest of the day doing homework and thinking about her dance.

When Monday came around, she was surprised that the feeling of expecting something had passed away. The anticipation in her gut was left unsatisfied now, like a good mystery with a bad ending. It only added to her mounting annoyance, and in her frustrations she couldn't concentrate so well. It... was almost regrettable that she had just let the feeling stay, and not tried to find out its meanings. But, the past was the past, and she had a big dance ahead of her.

* * *

**A/N: This must be why I'm still single. And also why I hate high school AU's about romance. It always ends with the assumption that the guy and the girl will stay through college and get married and have a happily ever after. Sure that's what everyone would want, but the realistic side of me just can't cope with that, and thus I am bending this thing into a shrieking bloodcurdling monster of really angry perfectionist nerds and bad stereotypes about American schools. Part 2 coming soon, but I want to finish the rest of Wonders in the Dark just to make sure I can finish it.**

**I don't know about this one, it just sprung from wanting to see a picture of Neji and Tenten with radically different hair. Some of this is actually based off of experience too, and the Chinese/Japanese is probably wrong because I don't want to go look up all of my old Japanese grammar books. Hopefully it's satisfactory for now. March of the Miserable will be put on hold though, because I actually want a full rough draft of it before continuing.**


	7. Wonders of the Dark: II

For a while, Tenten kept her glasses on. She would have none of it when Neji would try and take them, giving him an icy glare that stopped him in his tracks and allowed for her to reclaim her spectacles. He seemed to be sulking now, getting annoyed at her persistance. Whatever; he's been stubborn over many things before and will have to get over it.

But that's not what began tormenting Tenten. There were two things. The first was that she could now _see_ little things go missing. A piece of scrap paper during Arts and Crafts. A bit of food from someone's lunch when they are not looking. She even watched as a tiny book seemed to vanish before her eyes. And every day when she walked home from school, something that was not Neji began tugging at her plaits and nudging off her glasses. They would follow her to her room, and even when she buried herself underneath her thick bedcovers she could hear the contents of her room dance around her. The stuffed animals she owned would switch places. Her rolling chair would scoot closer. Something felt like it would hover over her bed, watching her as she shakily tried to deposit her glasses onto her nightstand, eyes scrunched shut and praying for sleep.

It was if a poltergeist or a ghost had begun playing tricks on her, and though she was restless more and tired during the day, she dare not tell anyone. Grandpa told her that ghosts weren't real, and if she told Sakura or Ino it'd spread to the class that she was afraid of things that weren't there.

Tenten quickly tried to get over her mind playing tricks on her. It was childish to believe that there was a monster in the closet, or that something huddled underneath her bed. She would not succumb to an overactive imagination no matter how much she thought something was rattling at her window, begging to be let in.

"You look tired," Neji said plaintively, nose still held high. He had to, considering they were in middle school and girls hit puberty before boys. But the fact that he had to _look up_ to see Tenten's eyes made her self-conscious of her height and him very vexed about his. To make matters worse, Lee hit puberty as well, the Springtime of Youth he declared, and while his voice didn't deepen he did grow taller. When Lee challenged him to a height competition and won, Neji didn't bother hiding his annoyance.

The brunette girl shrugged to her friend's question, focusing on the matter at hand: Arts and Crafts Day. She reached for the scissors and pieces of paper, but frowned when she realized the object was suddenly missing. Worry streaked through her chest, but she merely raised a hand and requested another pair from the teacher. Naruto, the one tasked to doll out all of the supplies, complained loudly that he did give them the scissors, but finding that none existed on the table he begrudgingly went to get another pair. Tenten calmly thanked and accepted the item, even if she was still nervous as to where the other ones went.

Something tugged on her braids, and she sent a hard look at Neji. "What?" he asked, surprised and innocently holding a half-folded piece of paper in his hands.

Tenten shook her head and grabbed a rose-colored sheet herself, folding it with a sharp crease. This Arts and Crafts Day was special. It was for Valentine's Day, which was still a ways off by a week, and Iruka had made it clear that you _had _to make one for each of your tablemates.

Lee had specifically requested green and orange paper for his cards, and Neji made his out of plain printer paper. He wasn't even going to add stupid hearts, already writing down commonly-used words of this foreign thing to him called 'friendship'. Tenten looked sadly at her own red card, still empty and full of hope as she looked at Lee.

"If Sakura does not accept my Valentines, I will run a hundred laps during recess!" he boasted, eyes glimmering as he turned to Tenten. "What words do you know that will rhyme with 'beautiful'? I want Sakura to know just how I feel in the most youthful way possible!" Suddenly a sad panda, Tenten shrugged uselessly.

"No one's ever called me beautiful; I wouldn't know," she said truthfully as she discarded her empty red card and pulled out two pink ones. She felt another tug on her braids. "Neji! Stop pulling my hair!"

Neji looked up from his writing, a ballpoint pen held regally between his smooth fingers. "I didn't pull your hair," he said, his mouth pulled into a frown and brow slightly scrunched. "You're tired. You must be hallucinating." Tenten rolled her eyes.

"No I'm not. It's just that _someone_ is pulling my hair." Neji's frown deepened.

"It's not me."

Tenten's eyes narrowed. "It's certainly not Lee." She didn't even need to gesture to the goofy boy beside her, clashing vibrant green with saturated red and dolloping little orange hearts all over it. It made her sick and jealous at the same time.

Now turned directly towards her, dove-hued card left on the table and ballpoint pen clenched in a fist, Neji said darkly, "I haven't pulled your hair since last week." Tenten stiffened at this, recalling the weird snake-bird thing that also reminded her of all of the peculiar happenings since then. It was easy to piece two and two together but Tenten really didn't want to know what lay beyond her glass walls. "It's not me," Neji repeated, looking awfully offended that she would accuse him. His eyes even did that creepy thing where little veins would appear at the sides, almost too subtle to be seen but he did so whenever he was particularly upset Usually he never even noticed, and his glares were the main reason he only has two friends.

"Fine," Tenten admitted, jerked slightly when she felt something pull at her braids _again_. Neji's hands were still balled up, so he was truly innocent. His eyes lost those veins, and were now confused as he looked at her and her gritted teeth.

"What was that?" he inquired.

Suddenly reminded of little things going missing, Tenten turned to her blank cards and mumbled, "Nothing." She saw Lee put down the scissors, tiny scraps of paper littering his side of the desk like autumn leaves, and reached for them. Her eyes widened when the scissors disappeared right before her eyes. Lee was busy looking at Sakura from across the room dreamily, and Neji had returned to writing in his graceful cursive. In her moment of suspicion, the scissors returned right in front of her.

Grabbing them dubiously, Tenten looked up in front of her. There was nothing there.

Something tugged at her hair and then nudged her glasses. Maybe from lack of sleep, or morbid curiosity, Tenten pulled her glasses down to the tip of her nose. From nothing emerged something.

Something hideous.

It was as if everything took on a greyer, moodier tone. Around the room, Iruka's warm voice turned into a muffled warble. Sakura and Ino's vibrant shining hair lost their luster. The blush on Hinata's cheeks seemed to disappear. Sasuke's black eyes began to flicker crimson with dark windmills inside of them. Even the temperature appeared to be dropping. And it scared Tenten as she looked beside her.

On Lee, he was smiling but his teeth weren't shining like they used to. His bowlcut hair was void and dull, no blaring light bouncing back to blind her. Even the determined furrow of his caterpillar brows seemed to have lessened. For Neji, his already-pale skin turned ashen and dead. His eyes became chips of jagged ice, and an odd jade-green mark appeared on his forehead. It was surprisingly clear in her world of sudden monochrome. But before she could scrutinize it, whips of black smoke lingering at the corner of her eyes made her turn her gaze back to in front of her. Tenten stopped breathing.

It was tall enough that it was leaning over her, shoulders pressed against the plaster ceiling. Its entire body seemed to be made out of black metal rings, reflecting light like a black hole. An oval ring for a head, linked to a wide circle for a torso. Its arms and legs were chains, and black mist seemed to surround it, wafting between its limbs eerily.

_"Hello__,"_ it said, almost as if it spoke through the dark fog that ensconced it. _"I have been waiting for you."_

What are you? Why are you here? Why me? Tenten wanted to ask, but she felt as if a bucket of ice had been chucked over her, turning her entire system frigid and cold. Undeterred by her muteness, and as if they are the only things in the universe, the creature continued.

_"I was sent here to protect you. But I can't do that if you are unable to see me. Tenten - __"_ How did it know her name? _" - do you believe in shadows?"_

She wanted to say no no _no_. It's just like Santa Claus of the Easter Bunny, right? Whatever she is hearing and seeing doesn't really exist, right? Tenten closed her eyes, but with her glasses slipping off her face when she opened them she could still see the chain-creature. It was actually towering over her now, closing in. And she was too scared to cry out.

_"I didn't think you would,"_ it said, voice seeming to echo off into the distance. It was if three people were speaking at once, all ambiguous and discombobulated. It made things scarier, knowing that what she was seeing wasn't human at all. _"I have been trying to get your attention since I first found you, but you wear those glasses all the time. They block your true sight, and though you live in ignorance, you are at risk. I cannot let anything harm you, Tenten."_

Finding her voice, if only barely, she squeaked, "Why are you here?"

Then, to her horror, the creature seemed to get even closer. Thick black lips sprouted from its 'face', wide blunt teeth filling its gums.

_"Because you sent me here,"_ it answered before something pushed her glasses up and everything was given its light and color again. Surprised, Tenten let out a squeal that earned their teacher's attention.

"Neji, are you trying to take Tenten's glasses again?" Iruka asked, ready to admonish the young boy.

Neji shook his head sternly, looking over at the girl for confirmation. His jaw was set, but his looked at her uncertainly. What was he so afraid of? He hadn't been the one to be approached by what appeared to be death itself.

Shakily, Tenten said, looking down at her two pink cards, "N-no, I was just startled. I thought I... saw a mouse." Her excuse was lame, and she felt like she was shivering despite it being a rather warm February day. Iruka was thankfully taken, peering around the room for any signs of a rodent. Glancing over at the white-eyed boy, making sure to give a peek at his smooth, unmarked forehead, Tenten asked, "What happened?"

Neji had the decency to appear as puzzled as she was. "You were zoning out," he explained, "she were mumbling to yourself and looking like a deer in the headlights. Your glasses were falling off so I thought I'd push them back on." His gaze held the most surreptitious amount of concern, but otherwise he spoke as usual in an almost bored, astute manner.

Feeling the warmth come back to her at her friend's worry, Tenten gave him a watery smile and told him, "Thanks, Neji."

And when his shoulders slackened, which she didn't notice had been rigid as posts, and when those little veins, the ones she didn't see before, disappeared from his eyes, Tenten truly meant what she had said. For even if she didn't have Lee's affection the way she would have liked, she could always rely on Neji's for some reason she didn't know of yet.

* * *

Tenten went to sleep that night like she always did: huddled underneath her thick blanket knowing that something's watching her as she pulls off her glasses and sets them on her bedside table as quickly as possible whilst impatiently waiting for slumber.

The only thing that changed is the knowledge of who was watching her. The chain-creature didn't even try to mask its presence when it loomed over her prone figure.

_"I supposed I will start from the beginning,__"_ it informed her, the only voice in the house. Her grandfather's raucous snores seemed no louder than a faint wheezing in the room over. _"We have been here from the beginning. We are there in the corner of your eyes. We are there in your blind spots, the demons that play when your back is turned. Because we are unseeable, we exist."_

Tenten shivered, but tried to sleep. Hopefully when she wakes up, it will all be a dream and she won't feel so cold.

_"We used to be seen by everyone. But they regale us in their folk tales only as monsters. The multi-headed dog of hell. The bloodthirsty one-eyed barbarian. The wailing temptation of the horror women's songs. Because man did not want to see us, we disappeared except for when they cannot lay eyes upon us. Even we do not know why we exist. We simply are here to feed."_

Stricken, Tenten clenched her eyes shut and curled into a ball. What did that mean? _To feed?_

As if sensing her sudden discomfort, it told her, _"We do not take what is not necessary. All of us have a certain object we must eat, but it is never a living object. Discarded food or broken tools, things we deem people no longer need. We have lived this way since the beginning."_

She found it almost... funny how the monster in her room was treating her. It was an intimidating alien being, and yet it was trying to sound as comforting as possible. Maybe it really was here to protect her. But... from what? Despite feeling as if all the heat in her body had been lost, Tenten said aloud, "Why do I need protection then?"

There was a small silence that followed, and the creature, which Tenten decided to call Chain for lack of a better name, seemed surprised that she even spoke to it. Finally, it did continue, but what it said put Tenten back into that terrified panic. _"Not all of us are... happy with the shadows. They are going against the ways we have followed, and want to be seen by humans once more. While we have all wished for a semblance of understanding by your kind, their ways of garnering attention has been found to be most... abhorrent."_ Chain paused for another moment, and Tenten really didn't want to hear what it would say. _"They have begun hunting outside of their diets. They are eating children."_

Tenten almost screamed then. She was so scared, because if what Chain is telling her is true, then she had become a target. Trembling more than she ever had, tears nearly obscuring her vision, Tenten blubbered, "W-wh-why me?"

Chain's suffocating aura seemed to have receded, as if knowing that she wanted space. It was so Neji-like to do that, a part of Tenten remembered, and was earnestly thankful for it. _"The Maenads, as we have come to call them, do not have the power to take on a well-bodied human. Many of us cannot lift even a rock, and I have been used all of my strength to get you to notice me. But the Maenads have learned that through many attempts, they can acquire enough strength for sentient beings. Within the last decade, three infants and a five-year-old have been devoured, and we do not know where any of them have gone. That is why we have come for you."_ If Tenten knew any better, she would have thought that Chain had taken in a breath to prepare itself for what it is about to tell her. _"Only a few people are able to see us on their own. Many of them, from a young age, can detect us, and many wear glasses such as you to obscure their abilities. Very few acknowledge us as they grow, and are thankfully out of reach of the Maenads when they become adults. Of all of the victims though, they were still young enough, and we have found that they also possessed your sight."_

It was a little hard to understand. How come Tenten of all people had this special sight? It was more like a bloody curse!

_"We have split to find children such as yourself. Our theory is, that because you can see us, you will be able to stop the Maenads' invasion, and they are trying to eliminate all opposition. If you agree to help us, Tenten, you will be able to pave the way for a future generation that will not only destroy the Maenads, but bring upon a further understanding between our two races. The reason I tell this all to you now, is that a girl such as yourself has personally asked that you be protected. She is the only other one of your potential who has listened, and I beseech for your assistance."_

Oh, now this was just crazy talk. It must have been pulled straight out of an Japanese cartoon, Tenten decided as she shot up from her bed to tell Chain how ridiculous it sounded. Her words died on her tongue though when she saw the entity still standing in her room. Chain remained as threatening as it did in school. Tall to the point where it was forced to hunch over to properly stand. Thick coiling body made up of ebony chains. Its black lips were gone, but mist surrounded it like a swarm of bugs Shino was so fond of.

And when Tenten tore her gaze away from it, she found eyes _everywhere_. Many smaller creatures similar to Chain were huddled in her room. Each of them were just as dark, mashed into odd, inhuman shapes. Some had eyes or appendages resembling beaks, wings, or claws, and none were bigger than the palm of her hand. Tenten was able to recognize the first one she had found, the one-eyed snake-bird thing as it peered at her from its resting place on top of her folded glasses. She stared at it. Its body was no longer than a night crawler's, and it had wrapped itself around her spectacles in such a way that she could see its head and its tail coiled around, but when she tried to see its body from behind one of the lenses it had disappeared.

Swallowing, Tenten was suddenly reminded of how Neji is a genius. And like all geniuses, he had been right.

* * *

Despite all of the tugging and rattling, Tenten kept her glasses firmly on. She ignored all of Chain's attempts to take her glasses off, and knew now that Neji wasn't the one grabbing at her hair. She was still losing sleep due to all of the nightly sounds getting louder, more urgent, but she declined all of their meanings in favor of getting her grandpa to help her with baking some Valentine's cookies.

On Friday this week, they will have a great big party, and though Lee will try to woo Sakura with his card, she will try to woo him with her cooking. A path to a man's heart was through his stomach, right?

"You must be making these for someone special," Papa, as she often calls him, remarks as he watches her stir the batter fervently. "You didn't put so much effort into your confections last year. Schoolgirl crush?" He didn't smile or chortle like other grandpas, but he still has a small grin stretched upon his worn face.

"Hmm, not really," Tenten lied, trying to sound casual. Her grandpa looked up from the newspaper he had been reading, lying there in the big red chair he liked to use. He could always tell when his little girl was lying to him.

"It's not that white-eyed boy, is it?" he questioned, sounding very disapproving. "He's the one who tugs on your braids at school, right? He's a bad boy."

"No way, I don't like Neji!" Tenten shouts, but suddenly feels guilty about it for some reason. "Neji doesn't pull my braids, and he's not a bad boy! He's really smart and he helps me with my homework! He's more like my best friend." Papa stares at her for a bit, looking as if he was glaring at her, but his eyes are gentle and the crags in his face are not as deep. He rests back down and continues reading as Tenten continues baking. She is a good baker, mainly because Papa never lets her near anything sharp and making cookies doesn't involve the big shiny knives she likes to hold whenever Papa isn't around to scold her.

Tenten stops her incessant stirring to reach for the spoon so she can scoop the batter onto the pan. She feels it for half a second before it is gone. Frowning, Tenten turns, her twin plaits twirling in the air as if they are supposed to smack something, and goes over to a drawer with the other utensils. Tenten feels that something is looming over her, but she ignores it and goes over to attend to her cookies.

She is trying too hard to make everything evenly spaced that her glasses have no problem creeping down her button nose. A swift yank that is really not too powerful sends them clattering to the floor. She lets out a yelp as everything is plunged into greyscale and her Papa is looking at her with surprise... and terror.

"Put your glasses back on!" he roars, throwing his newspaper. "What have I told you time and time again, Tenten?"

"Yes Papa!" she exclaims, bending down quickly to scoop up her specs. To her chagrin, she sees the snake-bird thing knock into her glasses as fast it can, sending them careening further from her. She quickly tries to grasp it, but a spider with twelve eyes and twice as many legs grabs on and throws them into the air. Turning her head up, Tenten's eyes widen when she sees Chain looking down on her, her treasured glasses dangling from one of its many linked appendages. "Give it back!" she shouts, standing up. She does not see how white her Papa's face becomes, watching his precious granddaughter speaking to air with her wide brown eyes barred to the world.

_"You cannot hide from this,"_ Chain tells her, unable to move much in their cramped kitchen. It is almost humorous if it isn't terrifying, a feeling Tenten is finding all to familiar by now. _"The Maenads are already here, Tenten. They cannot touch you yet, but we need you to fight back. I am sorry if I gave you a choice before, for now it is clear that you must fight."_

"I don't wanna!" Tenten exclaims, uncaring when she reaches out for her glasses. Chain is unable to do anything but let her reclaim them, the strangling fog and many eyes vanishing when she shoves the glasses back onto her face. Turning to her Papa, Tenten pouts and puts her arms akimbo. "Papa, I think we have mice in the house." And though her excuse is lame, her grandpa rolls with it and tells her that he will check the walls. Tenten puts her cookies into the oven and hums a tune, but she cannot deny the tension instilled into the air. Her movements are stiff and her grandpa's grip on the newspaper turns his knuckles paler. It is like a thousand eyes are watching them, and Tenten can feel every single one.

* * *

**A/N: Um, turns out the story is going to be bigger than only two parts. Wait for it.**


	8. Words of Babble

**Warnings: everything is cheesy and full of fluffy crap. Enjoy.**

* * *

**Auburn**

It is the release of warm coffee on a biting winter day. It is the feeling of being ensconced in blankets fresh from the dryer. It is the scent of a bakery with a fresh batch of cinnamon cookies. It is the beauty of a blazing sunset falling just to let the moon shine with the promise of coming back tomorrow.

But most importantly, it is Tenten's hair when she wakes up in the morning still ruffled from sleep.

**Giddy**

She was having way too much fun at his expense. Again.

But this time it would be worth it. Because even though his pale white skin was slowly turning a salmon pink under the scorching sun, she was wearing that fetching red bikini and her hair was in long swinging braids and she was smiling at him enough to be a whole new sun altogether and she was holding his sweaty clammy _hand_ like she owned it. In short, he was willing to suffer for her sake. Again.

So he let drag him through the water park all day, after safely ditching the more exuberant part of their team. They spent most of it doing completely asinine activities such as jumping around like idiots in the wave pool, getting swept along in the current of the lazy river, and standing underneath a play structure as a giant bucket of water poured out on top of them. His hair was drenched in chorine and his eyes had gone red from irritation, but he was having a surprisingly good time.

It all culminated up to when Tenten brought him to stand in line for half an hour to sit in a rubber doughnut and get thrown down a slide with water in it. At first Neji had refused, taking one look at the leaking structures and turning his head. But somehow Tenten had convinced him anyways, and so here they were at the top of a forty-foot high platform. Looking back on it, Neji could have walked away that entire time. But he didn't._  
_

So here he was, sitting cross-legged with Tenten in front of him mirroring his position in a large innertube about to be sent hurdling down a large pipe. Neji held onto the plastic bars provided at the side, wondering why he allowed himself to be tempted by such a mousey little woman.

In front of him, Tenten was giggling and squealing with delight as the man working there began to push them towards the mouth of the slide. Neji suddenly realized that the entire thing was enclosed, and was about to protest before the two of them were pushed inside. The line to the ride took thirty minutes, and yet the ride itself was all of twenty seconds.

Yet in those seconds, Neji watched as Tenten's eyes lit up with such elation that all words were slain on his tongue. She laughed loudly as they went down, her hair flailing around her as she stared back at him through the dark. In that not-even-half-a-moment Neji knew what it was like to feel his heart flutter.

**Natural**

Neji liked a clockwork schedule. Getting up in the morning doing the same thing over again. Brushing his teeth and combing his hair. Getting dressed and eating breakfast. It became so routine that he no longer needed to think about it, freeing him to ponder about other things.

In the beginning, his delicate equilibrium was turned upside down like a fragile fish bowl getting its water suddenly dumped out. He had _loathed_ his new teacher and freakish teammate. They became the youthful thorn in his side, and he hated them for making every day a trial. Only the girl seemed to be decent, and thus he stuck to her. She was bland and didn't even have a last name, but Neji was used to disappointment and he believed he had picked the lesser of two evils.

After nearly seven years of the same thing every day, Neji had to concede that his life was once again spinning on its axis. A completely different axis, mind you, but spinning peacefully none the less. His teacher was a respectable man who was passionate and loved his students dearly. His teammate was a hard-working man who defied the odds and continue to do so. And the girl had grown to become his trusted friend whom he could rely on through thick and thin to be there for him.

But Neji was bored with same. True, his definition of 'same' could not be normal anymore from the amount of hazardous missions he undergoes, violent explosions ricocheting off his system from time to time, and withstanding maelstroms of steel on a daily basis, but Neji found himself thirsting to doing something _more_. His life was now too complacent for his liking, much to everyone's belief that he was a boring stick in the mud (he is, but that doesn't mean he didn't like adventure).

So one day he proposed to Tenten.

Thankfully she agreed (Neji had no idea what he would have done if she said no; beg, maybe) and they married that following autumn. She moved in with him at the Hyuuga household, impressed all of his relatives with her expertise in everything metal, and wowed him beyond words on their honeymoon._  
_

Soon, waking up with Tenten, eating with Tenten, living with Tenten, and even sleeping with Tenten (who was known to be a kicker when in slumber, much to his chagrin) had become just another routine. To Neji's surprise, he had no problem with this new lifestyle. Because this new routine just felt so right.

**Sleek**

Tenten's skin was not smooth. She did not have the model-like qualities Ino had such as incredibly long legs, or the enormous bust Hinata possessed since she was fifteen. Sakura was on the polar end of the spectrum, necessity of medic-nins not being hit in battle allowing her alabaster skin to go completely unblemished throughout the years. And when asked if he would have preferred her looking more like a woman, Neji had no idea if he should comfort her woes of chuckle in her face.

Tenten's skin was not smooth, but Neji liked it anyways. He could feel every fading scar and bump when he massaged her, which he frequently did to both their benefits. Muscled arms and shoulders, a waist that just wasn't slim but still absurdly flexible. Rear and legs incredibly fit from running marathons with two bowl cut-haired loons. No, this wasn't the body of a _woman_, but it was the body of a woman. A breathing, living woman who chose to love him despite himself.

He could hold her in his arms without fear of her breaking, of pulling her to his side because he could depend on her, and leaning on her because sometimes she proved to be strong enough to hold both of them up.

Tenten's skin was not smooth, but she was real and there. And Neji preferred that any day.

**Thorn**

One day Tenten found a swallow in a rose bush. It had been attacked trying to defend its friends from a bigger bird, and although it had won, it landed with two thorns puncturing it in the shoulder and stomach. The swallow was rushed to a hospital, and a surgery had to be performed.

The swallow did not wake up for two days, and Tenten never left its side. Sometimes, the bird would restlessly chirp in its sleep. Sometimes it would stay so still you would think it had passed away there and then. Tenten would always fear for it when those happened.

Thankfully the swallow did open its eyes. Tenten's elation was short-lived however, when despite a broken wing and excessive blood loss, the swallow began to peck at its cage. It wanted to fly.

But if it flew, Tenten knew that the swallow will just crash and burn once more. So she stayed by the cage, telling the swallow to let itself heal before it was allowed to be free. The swallow didn't like that. It squawked angrily at her, flapped its wings in her face and sometimes tried to swipe at her with its talons. But every time Tenten would apologize for restricting the swallow's flight and the swallow would feel remorse over the one person that wanted to stay with it through its recovery.

Soon, the swallow took gradual steps to flight. It would stretch its wings more and more, and all of the punctures have been filled. Finally the day came when the swallow could take off, and Tenten opened its cage.

For a moment, the swallow was incredibly happy. It left her to be with its family, mending ties and fixing broken bonds. Tenten didn't complain, for the swallow can fly but it will never even think of taking her with it. She went back to her average life, but found it dull compared to her time spent with the swallow. Tenten dismally knew that the swallow will forget about her in time, and tried not to feel so left out about it.

Until soon after, the swallow came right back to her, asking her to never leave it ever again.

**Laughingstock**

A little cruel, Neji admitted as he walked away from the fuming Yamanaka. She was incredibly pretty, but using her looks to woo the enemy right there on the battlefield was a highly risky and fatal move that would have cost her team all of their lives had he been less benevolent.

He jumped into the trees, having wasted his remaining time running into the newest Ino-Shika-Chou formation. Along the way though, he thought to his female teammate. She would never try to use her beauty to distract a man, mainly because she would never let down her hair. But also because she never found herself gorgeous enough to pull it off, a fact that Neji still scoffed at under his breath.

Indeed her looks were simple and plain: wide brown eyes with galaxies of amber stars within them, high rounded cheekbones that made her appear more innocent than she really was, and a scrawny awkward body just breaking into puberty. But Neji already knew, and predicted, she will turn out to be a wonderful woman whose heart was seen before her looks. Any fool who cannot see her warm nonjudgemental heart did not deserve to gaze at her in the first place. Yes, Neji concluded, he will make sure no one will look at her the wrong way as long as he was around.

He landed in front of the kunai planted into the ground that marked their temporary campsite. The Forest of Death was an apt name; if anyone saw the kunai they would merely pass it off as just another random mark. Tenten was already there, having found nothing but winding up skewering an enormous centipede.

"Just imagine that thing crawling up your back!" she shivered at the mere thought. Meanwhile, Neji was envisioning her at the supple age of seventeen. A growth spurt and lean muscles, toned stomach not too narrow but containing no traces of fat at all. Her face had become more oval rather than round, yet her eyes still held galaxies in them. Her legs were unusually long, sleek expanses of tan that glowed in the sun and seemed to go on for miles. Maybe she'll still have her signature buns, maybe not. And most importantly smile that could make his world just feel alright... "All those billions of legs climbing over your spinal cord! Hey, where's Lee?" She looked around, suddenly just a little girl once more, trying to find their third comrade. "That's not like him, to be late. He's always so diligent."

"Yes," Neji agreed. It was all he could say after being abruptly woken from his daydream.

"Could he have run into the enemy...?" Tenten swiveled her head to look at the surrounding foliage, hoping that a spandex-wearing goofball will drop from the branches, but around them was only haunting silence. She turned back to him with concern on her features. "You don't think...?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, smiling softly and taking pride in the fact that she looked to him _first_ for guidance. "Let's go get Lee," he offered, and the two hurried back into the trees to find their missing piece. Yes, Neji wouldn't go for a girl like Yamanaka, who pushed her looks first for all to see. He'd be a laughingstock to the whole village if he did.

**Dun**

"_What_?"

"...What?"

"Tenten."

"Neji, I don't know what you're confused about."

"I am confused of what you just said about a minute ago."

"I said what?"

"Before that."

"Neji have you seen your old dun-colored shirt?"

"Yes, that."

"What about it?"

"What does dun mean?"

A giggle. A frown.

"You don't know?"

"No. Enlighten me."

A smile. A huff.

"Dun's a greyish brown color, used to describe your old shirt back from our genin days."

"You couldn't have just said it was grey?"

A playful roll of the eyes. A kiss on the lips.

**Revealing**

Neji had _always_ wanted to see Tenten naked. He had dreamed of it from a young age, disturbing his sleep patterns and pushing him outside his comfort zone whenever he thought of the possible curves of his female teammate's body.

Well, today he practically saw Tenten naked and he didn't like it one bit.

One, her breasts were bigger than he thought. He didn't like big-breasted women (they were all either scary, quick to throw a fist, or his _cousin_).

Second, her new clothes could not be considered clothes because clothes are meant to _cover_ the body. What she is wearing is no better than a strip of cloth and a 'take me now' sign strapped to her rear end. Which, Neji will admit, is a lot better than his creativity could have ever imagined. Those things were _flawless_... - **ahem**.

_Lastly_, but more _importantly_, not only could Neji see everything of Tenten but everyone else could as well. What will he do when the fanboys he had spent the majority of their genin days fighting off see her in such a scandalous outfit? He will have to literally beat them off with a stick.

So Neji did what he always did when faced with opposition. He threw a dignified tantrum. "You are not even allowed to leave this dressing room in... that." He couldn't even put a name to what Tenten was wearing. There just wasn't enough cloth.

She huffed, putting her hands on her hips as she looked up at him defiantly. Even in her regular pink top and navy pants she could fire his blood with that one look, but now that everything was bared for him to see, he felt all blood redirecting itself to most... unfortunate regions. He was only fifteen, he shouldn't have to put up with this bullshit yet.

"Your cousin wears fishnets," Tenten said. Neji scoffed.

"Underneath a conservative and _practical_ jacket," he retorted.

"Sakura wears skirts."

"Sakura wears spandex shorts underneath." Tenten swore under her breath. Very unladylike but so like her that Neji almost chuckled.

"Ino doesn't." She met his stare confidently. _As if she had won, how cute,_ Neji thought with a smirk.

"Are you saying you want to be like Ino? Konoha's greatest seductress and biggest flirt in the village?" That got her. Tenten sighed as she looked down at what she was wearing, now feeling a little foolish. It wasn't that Ino was a wanton whore or anything wretched like that, just that Tenten didn't think she would ever want to be like the peppy, earnest blond.

Dejectedly she turned back to the clothing room and pouted, folding her arms underneath her chest and emphasizing her bust (which was usually restrained but now seemed to be spilling out of her top). "Then what would _you_ suggest, of great fashion expert Neji Hyuuga?" Neji glanced down at her outfit one more time, silently savoring that fact that he made sure only _he_ saw her like this.

"I have an idea...," he began.

And thus explain's Tenten's new outfit.

**Selflessness**

"Sometimes you are just so blissfully, inexplicably, deplorably _selfless_," Tenten hissed at him as she barely restrained from tightening the bandages around his arms too much. "You saved me, go you. But you didn't have to dive into the street to do so. He would have stopped." Neji smiled wearily at her, allowing the rough treatment because Tenten just didn't know how to show her concern anywhere else. For a girl raised like a man, her heart was so delicate.

"I survived. The motorcyclist survived - though he may need a new front wheel. And the you survived. I think it was win." He tried to reason with Tenten, though even he couldn't explain why he did such an asinine thing - nearly flying from the sidewalk in the path of the upcoming cyclist as Tenten was running through the street to where he was. It was uncanny for him, school president and 'arrogant cocky bastard'.

But sometimes being with Tenten made him do incredibly selfless things. He would stay up all night studying with her, watching sappy moves with her when she was feeling down, and apparently even throw himself in the way of a moving vehicle for her. Though Neji could imagine giving his life for his cousins and uncle, it was because they were family and dear to him. Tenten was his friend, and so was Lee and Naruto and (begrudgingly) Sasuke. Only Tenten he could think of giving his life away from without a second thought. Was their an illness for this type of thinking?

Neji hissed as his scrapped arm, the one that had slid against the road when he pushed Tenten out of the way and dodging under the motorcyclist that crashed into a nearby mailbox, was bandaged with expert fingers. Tenten wasn't a nurse by any means, but Neji didn't want to go to the hospital and explain to his uncle why he had to pay for a motocycle that wasn't even his. Besides, Tenten was very skilled with her hands.

"You know what I dislike most about your selflessness?" Tenten inquired, suddenly so very near it took a moment for Neji to register her breath ghosting over his face. She smelled like mint and a cinnamon latte sprinkled with lemon. Neji couldn't help but breath her in, her hair completely unbound from getting shoved on the pavement so abruptly.

Swallowing thickly, Neji asked, "What?" She was closer than she had ever been before, edging across the boundary the two of them had placed up yet woud admittedly lean over from time to time. Her lips were just touching his. There was no more space left, and Neji's heart was hammering in his chest just like the way it did when he thought Tenten was going to get run over.

"You selflessness," Tenten whispered, smiling softly as she tenderly wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him that one small distance closer, "makes me feel so blissfully, inexplicably, deplorably _selfish_."

* * *

**A/N: Take a word. Make a small story out of it. Seems to fit me well. This is all for now but I guess I'll try to make more or something if I feel the desire. Here are some quick inferences to the words I felt would need description.**

**1- Auburn is Neji trying to describe the feelings he gets when he thinks of the word. 5 - The swallow is Neji I guess. Or an actual swallow. But symbolically it's Neji. 6 - based off of what Neji said to Ino-Shika-Chou in the Forest of Death arc. 8 - I purposefully did not describe Tenten's clothing. And the last line means why Tenten wears a white/red outfit in Shipuuden. 9 - Impractical AU where motorcycles exist and their location is imaginary. Hehe.**

**I have this habit of making Neji completely in love and leaving Tenten ambiguous/hinted at. Maybe I am just tired of all the plots where Tenten works hard to get his feelings or I am one-trick pony.**


	9. Sesame Dumplings

**Hold me.**

Neji was a remarkable child. He worked hard and was diligent, eager to learn and eager to please. For a mere branch child, he excelled in the art of the Gentle Fist. He was even better than his cousin Hinata, who was supposed to be the heiress of the Hyuuga clan and had access to all of the family secrets that Neji could not even fathom existed.

Some noted that if Neji's mother and father had not survived, he might have become a vastly different child.

Neji's mother was a gentle, kind woman who no one expected to live through the childbirth. She and Hizashi were engaged since they were young, and held enough politeness to each other before the wedding on their eighteenth birthdays to be willing to produce a child. Of course, she was a branch family member, and her wide pale forehead was always covered with a thin strip of silk as she went about her day tending to her own personal garden or whispering stories to her son.

Hizashi tutored Neji himself, always helping him when things felt too tough to continue. Neji did his best to please his father and protect the Main House. Sometimes though, his father would get a dark look in his eyes and scowl in the mirror as if he kept seeing something he didn't like. Neji would go to his mother instead and she would placate him as best she could.

"He is not angry at you or anyone else," she told him. "He is merely angry at his destiny."

Destiny. Neji wasn't too sure he liked the idea of it, but he wasn't about to do anything about it because the next day his father would go back to being the peaceful, amiable man he knew him as.

As Neji grew older though, he began to learn things. For one, invisible rules seemed to govern his life. All Branch House members must return to the compound before midnight unless on a mission. Bow your head low to a Main Branch member, and even lower if it's Lord Hiashi or his family. Your eyes will make people stare at you for the rest of your life, but you will give your life without hesitation if it will save the Byakugan. You can't play with Lady Hinata because she has more important things to do.

Bitterly Neji caged all of these feelings of oppression inside him, wondering if this was how his father felt every time he looked in the mirror. The jade green mark he had found so pretty, when it stopped throbbing after he first got it, had become a constant reminder of these intangible bars. Despite this, Neji's mother cooed him stories and his father helped him meditate to ease his mind. He didn't know what he would do if he didn't have them.

When Neji entered the academy, he was reluctant to let go of his father's hand. Hizashi's palms were always calloused and rough, but they were warm and tender too. His father smiled down at him, the wrinkles around his eyes always becoming more pronounced as he grinned. He focused Neji's attention to a young girl standing away from the crowd of new academy students and their parents, noting the buns on her head and her pretty pink shirt. "She looks lonely. Why don't you go cheer her up, I'm sure she could use a friend." And Neji agreed, letting go of his father's hand to jog over to her.

Smiling boyishly, he told her, "Hi I'm Neji Hyuuga. You looks rather lonesome alls bys yourself, so I wanted to see if you needed a friend." His eyes sparkled as he saw the girl lift up her head, tanned cheeks round with childishness and dark brown eyes seeming to stare right through him. She wasn't smiling though.

"I don't need friends," she told him coldly, her high-pitched voice completely monotone as she shifted away from him. "Go away, you're a bother."

Absolutely crushed, Neji turned to where his father had been to inquire why this girl was so cold. Unfortunately, Hizashi was nowhere to be seen anymore and Neji felt completely lost for the first time in his life.

* * *

The girl was in his class, sitting in the back and never paying any attention to her peers. Neji sat away from her, closer up to the teacher to hear what the lesson of the day would be. Survival techniques, ninja code, and how to use basic ninjutsu. He would always become distracted though by that cold-eyed girl, the one who kept to herself and wore a pretty pink shirt every day.

Neji became friends with several of the other students, who seemed to like him more for his milky eyes than his friendly smile. Only one of the boys seemed to not care, even though he was a failure in the class.

"You'll get it next time," Neji assured Rock Lee as the other failed to yet again use the substitution jutsu. Apparently the teachers have said something about unformed chakra coils, but Neji truly believed Lee will be able to be a great ninja despite the handicap.

A fire seemed to physically burn within the boy's wide circular eyes as he clenched a fist and made a rather strong face that turned out to be more hilarious than inspiring. "I will run five hundred laps around the track if I cannot perform the substitution jutsu next time!" he assured Neji, causing the brown-haired boy to mentally groan. Lee was way too exuberant!

"Don't hurt yourself," he settled on, noticing just out of the corner of his eyes the bun-haired girl leaving the room for their lunch break. Whispering softly, Neji said, "That girl's always been uninterested in whatever we do. She barely speaks and she's always wearing that pink shirt. What's her name?"

Lee peeked over to where the girl had done, already recognizing her signature hairstyle and dress. "Oh, that's Tenten. She's like that because she's the only kid in the class without any parents. She lives in the orphanage and was the only one capable of becoming a ninja." Startled, Neji wondered why he had not known this before. "We don't really talk about it because we pity her too much. I don't think she even wants to be a ninja."

More curious than ever, Neji snuck off before lunch break ended to find Tenten reading in the library. She had her button-nose buried in between the pages of a very, very large encyclopedia of the history of every ninja tool in existence. Her brown doe-eyes, which were rather dark and blank for a child her age, were studying the material in all seriousness. And it looked like she completely understoood the information.

Feeling apprehensive of interrupting her, Neji tried to walk over as casually and smoothly as he could, but she still noticed him with the way her eyes flickered to him briefly before returning to her book. She probably thinks that if she ignores him, he'll go away Neji thought, chagrined by her reaction. Swallowing, he said, "Hi I'm Neji Hyuuga. You look a little lonely here by yourself; would you mind someone to talk to?" He smiled shyly at her, hoping to melt her icy exterior a bit.

But she didn't even look askance at him as she grunted and waved him off. "You're a bother," she said, flipping a page to display a rather intricate diagram of some explosive bomb.

Disappointed, but feeling something weigh on his chest oddly, Neji walked back to the classroom without another word.

* * *

That Tenten girl sure was weird. Only a year and a half at the academy and she had top-ranks in nearly every subject despite appearing as if she wasn't listening to a word their teacher said. She often gazed out the window and didn't answer questions unless specifically asked, and of which she was always correct. All of the other students strayed away from her to be with more talkative and less-insulting people, but their gazes would wander back on her should she pass by them or enter the room.

Neji didn't enjoy getting shot down by her, but he just couldn't pin the feeling she gave him. It was a mix of pity, sadness, curiosity, and something more... He wanted to know why she was so alone if she was from an orphanage. Wouldn't she want more friends to be with her? To smile or laugh once in a while instead of shooting that blank, judging look at everyone? How could someone go through life like that? Neji wanted to know.

So he tried.

Bringing up the orphanage sounded like a horrible idea, and thus Neji decided to ask her about other things.

"What's your favorite thing to eat?" he said one day, catching Tenten in the library once more. A new book was in front of her, big as the last one. Did she really finish the first one? Neji tried not to appear so impressed.

As usual though, Tenten told him, "Go away, you're being a bother." But this time, Neji didn't. He simply repeated his question, prompting Tenten to take a second glance at him with a hint of irritation in her eyes. "What I like to eat doesn't matter. Now leave."

"What if I wanted to make you a lunch?" Neji defended, looking rather defiant on the outside but on the inside mentally berating himself for going up against a girl like this.

Tenten scoffed almost sardonically and waved him off once more, a rather cruel smirk on her features. "Highly unlikely. A pretty boy like you has probably never lifted a finger in his life." Stung, Neji scurried away as he clutched his chest tightly. Her words were as razor-sharp as the weapons she regularly employed, and it felt like his heart had just been stabbed through - a dead bullseye.

* * *

After that experiment Neji strayed from Tenten as much as possible, but destiny seemed to have something against him.

Every exercise involving teamwork paired the both of them together. Tenten would barely look his way, expecting him to obey her without a single word being uttered between them. At first, it ticked him off to be honest, and they scrambled most of the time with their own capabilities. Their teacher seemed to think they made the ideal team though, because he kept rattling off their names together like they were a two-for-one sale.

Neji noticed patterns though, something he had not been able to see in Tenten when he approached her directly. By observing her out of the corner of his eyes he noticed that her gaze was often straight ahead, but habitually it would glance over at something that would take her interest or concentration. Just by following her hardened earthy pupils he could understand where to strike or what to target. Every move of hers was calculated at least ten steps beforehand, allowing her to be smooth and graceful. New factors were accounted for on the fly, and Neji found himself adapting to every new battle strategy just by peering into her eyes.

It was just survival tact, Neji reasoned, and that he could do the same thing were he be forced to fight alongside anyone else.

Soon though, the two of them had been fighting so efficiently it would be absurd _not_ to put such complementary individuals on a team. And that is exactly what happened when they graduated. Being the best of the best, they were given the failure Rock Lee. Tenten appeared unimpressed, but Neji was glad he wouldn't be stuck with such a frigid girl.

Their teacher Gai pushed for hard work and the spirt of youth. Neji was hit by a mix of morbid curiosity and annoyance from the man, but respected his strength adamantly. Lee especially seemed to have taken a liking to him, which Neji was grateful for because that meant he wouldn't have to wear that disturbing green jumpsuit.

At first it was very basic stuff. Running up trees and hanging by their branches. Walking on water and learning more advanced jutsus. Team sparring consisted of two random students facing off against each other, and the winner would have to face off with the one who didn't get to battle in the first round. Naturally, Tenten was able to outsmart Lee and overwhelm Neji. He had the Byakugan, but his body just couldn't move around enough to dodge every single one of her weapons.

He wondered if there was a Hyuuga jutsu meant to solve that problem.

"Boring," Tenten groused as she stepped over Lee's incapacitated body. A solid blow to the back of the head with the blunt end of a pole arm and he was out. Gai gave his precious team flower a disapproving look at her words, before going to pick Lee up and set him aside.

"Yosh! Neji, you're next! Give our dearest flower a fight to remember!" Neji sighed, feeling resigned to his fate. It was like this every day, no matter how loud Gai's booming voice got. Tenten would wipe the floor with them, using only her weapons and speed to sometimes literally whack them into the ground. If Neji was true to himself, he would admit that constantly losing to a girl in a pretty pink shirt was rather embarrassing.

Today felt a little different though. Neji tracked Tenten through her eyes as usual, watching her pupils take stock of her opponent before she turned them to the left and disappeared into the surrounding forest. Activating his bloodline, Neji only had half a second to spin out of the way of three kunai.

Not even giving him any time, more barrages of weapons sailed at him. It got to the point where Neji was not really dodging so much as pivoting on his heel endlessly. The spinning was making him dizzy, allowing him to be an easy opponent should he become disoriented. Gritting his teeth, Neji focused his eyes on where Tenten was. She was watching him this time, staring straight back as Neji centered on her face. Soon the whirling around him was blocked out by her dark iris', and he lasted ten more minutes before Tenten seemed to have gotten fed up with him and threw a weighted chain in the exact place he would spin next.

It wrapped around him easily with his momentum, and when Tenten pulled he was swept off his feet and landed on the ground in a daze, unable to move.

She walked over to him, her breathing slow even when his was erratic. "You need to work on your defense," she told him right before she sealed the chain back into one of her many, many scrolls and walking off. Gai frowned after her as Neji sat upright on the ground.

A defense, he thought curiously. How could he make a defense that would protect him from literally every direction?

* * *

Team Gai was already one of the best teams in its generation. Tenten was the strategist, with Neji and Lee as the close-combat duo. She organized them to the roles best suited for them, and Gai would often praise them for their effortless teamwork.

In truth, Tenten was simply commanding them like pawns on a chessboard and Neji and Lee simply obeyed. A wall had developed between Lee and Tenten, Neji noted. While he and Lee were friendly, and Tenten was slightly more polite to him than the average person, she was downright antagonistic when it came to Lee. She would do often to provoke him, pointing out his many flaws such as a reckless move or an impulsive action that would end in his defeat whenever they spared.

"You're too soft-hearted," she told him coldly as he lay on the ground once more, numerous lacerations bleeding freely all over. "You fight me like a teammate, not the enemy. If you don't start taking this seriously, you're going to die without any credit to your name." And then she would leave. Neji didn't know where she would go, and by the time he had recovered from their own spar she was out of his Byakugan's range.

Wrapping the bandages over his forearm, wincing at the cuts running up and down his arm, Neji said to Lee idly, "Why is Tenten so cruel?" Like last time, Lee recounted her orphanage. "But just not having any parents can't be the whole story. There has to be more," Neji insisted. "If I lost my mom or dad, I'd be devastated. But I'd also be incredibly bitter to whoever killed them. Do you think Tenten became a ninja to exact her revenge?"

Lee frowned uneasily at the prospect. "If she is doing this for revenge," he said lowly, whispering as if the blowing leaves around them had ears, "the light in her eyes will never shine again."

Swallowing, Neji fixed his bandages and said goodbye to Lee early. After Tenten beat them, he and Lee would train together or with Gai, but their teacher had to be called away for important business regarding their qualifications for the upcoming Chuunin exams. Though Neji wanted to do it, he wasn't sure he could rely on his team enough to successfully pass the test together.

Neji went straight to his father that day, sitting beside Hizashi as the two shared some green tea. "She's been cold for a long time," Neji recounted, watching as some grey pigeons pecked the ground in search of food in the Hyuuga courtyard. "Ever since I could remember. Lee thinks she's doing it for revenge, but I'm not so sure."

His father was contemplative as he sipped his drink. Finally, after a moment, Hizashi turned to Neji. "Revenge is a very... empty thing," he began, drawing his son's attention from the birds. "It can control you, shackle you even more than our curse seal ever could. If you seek revenge, you imprison yourself. Revenge is not a pretty thing, Neji. It is the cause of many of our wars, and the motivator of our greatest evils. This Tenten girl might have succumbed to her thirst for vengeance, but I believe she can be saved from her cage."

"How so?" Neji questioned immediately.

Hizashi smiled at him, albeit a bit sorrowfully. "By creating a key."

* * *

Once again he was told to get closer to her.

Tenten was like a fortress though, all of her weapons made to keep everyone out. She was icy and emotionless, isolating herself from the rest of the world. Neji watched her as she walked down the road to training, noticing how alone she truly looked with her pink top contrasting the greys of the early morning.

"What's your favorite thing to eat?" he asked the moment she could hear him.

If she was surprised by his question, she didn't show it. Recently she had been expressing a lot less since Gai didn't allow them to take that Chuunin exam, though it had more to do with his rivalry regarding another Jounin than it was their lacking teamwork.

"What I like to eat doesn't matter." Her answer was the same as before, and as her mouth moved to give him an insult, Neji spoke up.

"I will make your favorite food," he told her, staring straight at her earthy brown eyes. "If you tell me, I promise I can make your favorite food exactly the way you want it."

Something seemed to flash in Tenten's eyes. A flicker of amber, or a sparkle of gold. Whatever it is, Neji's heart fluttered as he watched her make a decision. He was almost afraid she would tell him to stop being a bother, but thankfully she said, "I like sesame dumplings."

Neji smiled at her, feeling like he had made a step towards whatever he was reaching for.

It momentarily went away when she seemed to spent extra time making him spin around, and by the end of training he had nearly dislocated his ankle from all the movement.

"I think she's trying to get you to do something," Lady Hinata told him as she helped him make the dumplings that night. It was a miracle that Neji had been able to wrangle cooking lessons from her, what with all of Hinata's studies for her graduation soon and Neji being a rather unimportant branch member. Their relationship was like brother and sister, despite whatever barrier the two houses had made.

"I do not get why she would purposefully make me rotate on the ball of my feet," Neji sighed as he rolled the dough between his hands in sesame seeds. "She's been doing it for weeks now."

Hinata didn't reply right away. Instead she filled the uncooked dough with sweet black bean paste, licking her lips nervously because she couldn't twiddle her fingers. "Maybe...," she said softly, even quieter than she usually spoke so that Neji had to lean over to hear her properly. "Maybe... she wants you to learn the Heavenly Rotation..."

Tenten most certainly did not know any of the forbidden Hyuuga techniques. Neji himself did not know them, and Hinata said that the Heavenly Rotation was not something even most Main branch members were unable to master.

"It involves spinning in place and surrounding your body within a dome of chakra expelled from all of your tenketsu," she explained cautiously, the two of them on high alert as she told her cousin a jutsu he should never be allowed to learn. "I have tried it, but being able to revolve in place on command is difficult. I think Tenten is just trying to get you to dodge, but learning the Rotation would improve your defense capabilities enormously."

Neji thanked his cousin, for the sesame dumplings and the concept of a new jutsu. He was so grateful to her, and told her to simply forget their conversation should he be caught learning a move off-limits to him. She smiled kindly at him, making a silly show of zipping her mouth shut before she had to go off and train with her father.

The next day, Neji approached Tenten with a new resolve and a boxed lunch full of sesame dumplings.


End file.
